Moses-on-Mount-Horeb
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Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which
I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM
IT, that ye may keep the commandments of אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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Beside the Burning Bush..
With Rabbi,
Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Introduction:
A great truth was that Moses was the greatest of the prophets, but when אֱלֹהִים - Elohim asked him to lead the enslaved Hebrews, believe it or not, but he refused four times: saying very much as follows - ‘Who am I to go?’, ‘They will not believe in me’. ‘I am not a man of words’. ‘Please send someone else”.
Please Note: All verses in this study is from the JPS-1917 version of the Tanakh:
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Let us briefly look at some of the events
with Moses going up on
Exodus 3:1: Moses comes to Horeb,
the Mountain of אֱלֹהִים,
while tending sheep.
Exodus 3:2: The angel of יְהוָה - the LORD appears in a blazing bush that does
not burn up.
Exodus 3:3-4: Moses turns to look, and אֱלֹהִים
calls his name twice (‘Moses,
Moses!’).
Exodus 3:5-6: אֱלֹהִים tells Moses to take off his sandals because he stands on Holy ground.
Let us no look at
some other relevant scriptures:
“Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and
that I should bring forth the children of
“And Moses answered and said: ‘But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice’”. Exodus 4:7.
“They will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice”. Exodus 4:9.
Then there are also the following a verse and explanations:
Exodus 4:13: “Oh יְהוָה - LORD, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send”. Exodus 4:13:
Exodus 3:1: Moses comes to Horeb,
the mountain of אֱלֹהִים,
while tending sheep.
Exodus 3:2: The angel of יְהוָה - the LORD appears in a blazing bush that does
not burn up.
Exodus 3:3-4: Moses turns to look, and אֱלֹהִים
calls his name twice (‘Moses, Moses!’).
Exodus 3:5-6: אֱלֹהִים
tells Moses to take off his sandals because he stands on holy ground.
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It is as if Moses knew with uncanny precision what he would be letting himself in for. Somehow he sensed in advance that it may be hard to be a Hebrew, but to be a leader of Hebrews seemed for him almost impossible.
How did Moses know this? The answer lies many years back in his youth. It was then when, having grown up, he went out to see his people for the first time. He saw them enslaved, being forced into heavy labour.
Then one day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He intervened and saved the Hebrews life. The next day he saw two Hebrews fighting, and again he intervened. This time the man he stopped said to him, “Who appointed you as our leader and judge?”
Note that Moses had not yet even thought of being a leader and already his leadership was being challenged. And these are the first recorded words spoken to Moses by a fellow Hebrew. That was his reward for saving the life of an Israelite the day before.
And though אֱלֹהִים persuaded Moses, or ordered him, to lead, it never ceased to be difficult, and often demoralising. Moses was faced with over forty years spent leading a group of people who were prone to ‘criticise their situations’, ‘sin’ and ‘rebellion’, and continually argued among themselves.
In an appalling show of ingratitude, the
Israelites complained several times in the book of Shemot, after witnessing
miraculous acts from אֱלֹהִים and his appointed leader
Moses. At ‘Marah’ they complain that the water is bitter. Then, in more aggressive
terms, they protest at the lack of food (‘And the
children of
‘Would that we had died by
the hand of יְהוָה - the LORD in the
Later, at Refidim, they grumble at the absence of water, prompting Moses to say to אֱלֹהִים, ‘What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!’
In Devarim, Moses recalls the time when he said to אֱלֹהִים:
“How can I myself bear Your problems, Your burdens and Your disputes all by myself” (Deuteronomy 1:12).
Moses asked יְהוָה - the LORD - Numbers Chapter 11:11-15:
“And Moses said unto יְהוָה - the LORD: 'Wherefore hast Thou dealt ill with Thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in Thy sight, that Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that Thou shouldest say unto me: Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carrieth the sucking child, unto the land which Thou didst swear unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they trouble me with their weeping, saying: Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people myself alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray Thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in Thy sight; and let me not look upon my wretchedness”.
And this was said, do not forget, by the greatest Hebrew leader of all time. Why were our people almost impossible to lead?
The answer was given by the greatest rebel against Moses’ leadership, ‘Korach’. Listen carefully to what he and his associates said:
They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them,
“Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and יְהוָה - the LORD is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of יְהוָה - the LORD?” Numbers 16:3:
Korach’s motives were wrong. He spoke like a democrat but what he wanted was to be an autocrat. The truth is that he wanted to be a leader himself. But there is a hint in his words of what is at stake.
Hebrews are a nation of strong individuals. “The whole community is holy, every one of them”. They always were. They still are. That is their strength and their weakness. There were times when they found it difficult to serve אֱלֹהִים. But they certainly would not serve anyone less. They were the “stiff-necked” people, and people with stiff necks find it hard to bow down.
Prophets would never bow down to Kings. Mordechai would not bow down to Haman. The Maccabees would not bow down to the Greeks. Their successors would not bow down to the Romans. Us Hebrews are generally fiercely individualistic. At times this makes us unconquerable. And sadly it can also make us almost ungovernable, impossible to lead!
That is what Moses discovered during his youth when, trying to help his people, their first response was to say, “Who appointed you as our leader and judge?” That is why he was so hesitant to take on the challenge of leadership, and was why he refused four times before אֱלֹהִים יְהוָה - the LORD Elohim.
There has been much debate amongst us the Hebrews recently about whether there should be an agreed collective stance of ‘unconditional support’ for the state and government of Israel, or whether our ‘public position should reflect the deep differences that exist among our people today’, be it within Israel or around the word.
In Conclusion:
Our view should be that