Exodus 3:2

And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him,.... Not a created angel, but the Angel of God's presence and covenant, the eternal Word and Son of God; since he is afterwards expressly called Jehovah,

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. The Angel of the Lord appeared.

The angel of the Lord; not a created angel, but the Angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus, who then and ever was God, and was to be man, and to be sent into the world in our flesh, as a messenger from God. And these temporary apparitions of his were presages or forerunners of his more solemn mission and coming, and therefore he is fitly called an Angel. That this Angel was no creature, plainly appears by the whole context, and specially by his saying, I am the Lord, & c. The angels never speak that language in Scripture, but, I am sent from God, and, I am thy fellow servant, &c. And it is a vain pretence to say that the angel, as God’ s ambassador, speaks in God’ s name and person; for what ambassador of any king in the world did ever speak thus, I am the king, &c.? Ministers are God’ s ambassadors, but if any of them should say, I am the Lord, they would be guilty of blasphemy, and so would any created angel be too, for the same reason. By a flame of fire was fitly represented God’ s majesty, and purity, and power. The bush was not consumed; which doubtless represented the condition of the church and people of Israel, who were now in the fire of affliction, yet so as that God was present with them, and that they should not be consumed in it, whereof this vision was a pledge.

Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed.Ver. 2. And the Angel of the Lord.] Christ, that Angel of the Covenant, and of the great council. And the bush was not consumed.] No more is the Church, whereof this is an excellent emblem, by the fire of tribulation, because of "the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush."

(2) The angel of the Lord.—Heb., an angel of Jehovah. In Exodus 3:4 the angel is called both “Jehovah and “Elohim,” whence it is concluded, with reason, that it was the Second Person of the Trinity who appeared to Moses. Out of the midst of a bush.—Literally, out of the midst of the acacia. As the seneh, or acacia, is very common in the Sinaitic region, we can scarcely suppose that a special tree, growing alone, is intended. Probably the article is one of reference, and the meaning is, “the bush of which you have all heard.” (Comp. John 3:24.)

Verse 2. The angel of the Lord] Not a created angel certainly; for he is called יהוה Jehovah, Exodus 3:4, c., and has the most expressive attributes of the Godhead applied to him, Exodus 3:14, c. Yet he is an angel, מלאך malach, a messenger, in whom was the name of God, Exodus 23:21 and in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, Colossians 2:9 and who, in all these primitive times, was the Messenger of the covenant, Malachi 3:1. And who was this but JESUS, the Leader, Redeemer, and Saviour of mankind? See Clarke on Genesis 16:7. A flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush] Fire was, not only among the Hebrews but also among many other ancient nations, a very significant emblem of the Deity. God accompanied the Israelites in all their journeyings through the wilderness as a pillar of fire by night; and probably a fire or flame in the holy of holies, between the cherubim, was the general symbol of his presence; and traditions of these things, which must have been current in the east, have probably given birth, not only to the pretty general opinion that God appears in the likeness of fire, but to the whole of the Zoroastrian system of fire-worship. It has been reported of Zoroaster, or Zeradusht, that having retired to a mountain for the study of wisdom, and the benefit of solitude, the whole mountain was one day enveloped with flame, out of the midst of which he came without receiving any injury; on which he offered sacrifices to God, who, he was persuaded, had then appeared to him. M. Anquetil du Perron gives much curious information on this subject in his Zend Avesta. The modern Parsees call fire the off-spring of Ormusd, and worship it with a vast variety of ceremonies. Among the fragments attributed to AEschylus, and collected by Stanley in his invaluable edition of this poet, p. 647, col. 1, we find the following beautiful verses: - ΧωριζεθνητωντονΘεον, καιμηδοκει Ὁμοιοναυτῳσαρκινονκαθεσταναι. Ουκοισθαδ' αυτον·ποτεμενὡςπυρφαινεται Απλαστονὁρμῃ·ποτεδ' ὑδωρ, ποτεδεγνοφος. "Distinguish God from mortal men; and do not suppose that any thing fleshly is like unto him. Thou knowest him not: sometimes indeed he appears as a formless and impetuous FIRE, sometimes as water, sometimes as thick darkness." The poet proceeds: - Τρεμειδ' ορη, καιγαια, καιπελεριος Βυθοςθαλασσης, κωρεωνὑψοςμεγα, Ὁτανεπιβλεψῃγοργονομμαδεσποτου. "The mountains, the earth, the deep and extensive sea, and the summits of the highest mountains tremble whenever the terrible eye of the Supreme Lord looks down upon them." These are very remarkable fragments, and seem all to be collected from traditions relative to the different manifestations of God to the Israelites in Egypt, and in the wilderness. Moses wished to see God, but he could behold nothing but an indescribable glory: nothing like mortals, nothing like a human body, appeared at any time to his eye, or to those of the Israelites.

2. the angel of Jehovah] The ‘angel of Jehovah,’ or, in E (Exodus 14:19, Genesis 21:17; Genesis 31:11), ‘of God,’ is a temporary, but full, self-manifestation of Jehovah, a manifestation usually, at any rate, in human form, possessing no distinct and permanent personality, as such, but speaking and spoken of, sometimes as Jehovah Himself (e.g. v. 4a here, comp. with v. 2; Genesis 16:10; Genesis 16:13; Genesis 31:11; Genesis 31:13; Judges 6:12; Judges 6:14; Judges 13:21 f.), and sometimes as distinct from Him (e.g. Genesis 16:11; Genesis 19:13; Genesis 19:21; Genesis 19:24; Genesis 21:17; Numbers 22:31): cf. Gray, EB. iv., Theophany, § 4. As Davidson remarks (DB. i. 94b, s.v. Angel), the ‘angel of Jehovah’ differs from ‘Jehovah’ only in being sensibly manifest: ‘the mere manifestation creates a distinction between the “angel of Jehovah” and “Jehovah,” though the identity remains.’ The angel of Jehovah is mentioned chiefly in the older parts of the historical books, J, E (never P), and the older narratives in Judges (Exodus 2:1; Exodus 2:4, Exodus 5:23, Exodus 6:11 f., Exodus 20-22, Exodus 13:3-21). a flame of fire] A frequent form of the Divine manifestation (Exodus 19:18, Exodus 24:17; Ezekiel 1:27; Ezekiel 8:2; and in the ‘pillar of fire,’ Exodus 13:21 f.). On the present occasion, however, the fire was not a ‘devouring’ fire, but only the brilliancy of fire. Cf. Hom. Od. xix.39 f. (Kn.). out of, &c.] i.e. rising up out of the bush. a bush] only besides Deuteronomy 33:16 ‘the favour of him that dwelt in the bush.’ Properly, as Aram. shews (PS. 2671; Lφw, Aram. Pflanzennamen, No. 219), the bramble bush, rubus fruticosus, Linn. (so LXX. βάτος, [Luke 6:44], Vulg. rubus), which however does not seem to grow in the Sin. Peninsula.

The angel of the Lord - See the note at Genesis 12:7. What Moses saw was the flame of fire in the bush; what he recognized therein was an intimation of the presence of God, who maketh a flame of fire His angel.

2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him — More literally, “And there appeared an angel of Jahveh (Jehovah) unto him.” In a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush — Rather, “the thorn-bush,”