Shmot

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

3:2-3

Why did the Holy One, blessed be He reveal Himself from on high and speak with Moses from out of the bush? Just as this bush is tougher than all the trees in the world and any bird which gets inside can never get safely out without its limbs being torn to shreds so the bondage suffered by Israel in Egypt was tougher than any other.

Mekhilta of Rav Shimon bar Yochai (2^nd Century)

God answered him (Moses) point by point (because Moses did not want to go back to Egypt)…Regarding your first question: “Who am I to go to Pharaoh” it’s not you but Me; “For I shall be with you,” the vision of the bush constitutes the sign that I have sent you and that you will succeed in your mission and that you may rely on Me for deliverance. Just as you saw the bush carry on My mission and remain unburnt, so shall you undertake my mission and come out unscathed.

Rashi (12^th Century)

The angel appeared in the “innermost part” of the fire. Thus the angel appeared in the “middle” of the fire and the fire in turn was in the “middle” of the thorn bush. Thus, the thorn bush was not enveloped by flames…Accordingly, it could not have been the intent of this phenomenon to show that here was a torn bush, which was on fire but was not consumed by the flames, thus signifying that Israel would not perish in exile…The Torah itself is nothing but a fire that fashions itself into law, retaining the power and the function of fire, as it were, in that it seeks to penetrate, purify, warm and revive us…

Samson Raphael Hirsch (19^th Century)

God saw that he (Moses) had turned aside to see; then God called out to him…God wanted to educate him little by little. He wanted to raise his perceptive powers stage by stage so that his intellectual faculties would keep place with his emotional faculties. This matter can best be illustrated by comparing it to someone who has sat for a long time in a dark room. If one were to let him step into brilliant sunshine all at once…The intellect, though…is similar to the senses in that it cannot successfully absorb too much too suddenly. When God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, He also did not give them all the commandments at one and the same time, but He prepared them for the experience ahead of time…

Rabbeinu Bachya (13^th Century)

According to Jewish law, shepherds, until proven innocent, are not qualified to be witnesses in court, as they are all suspected of robbery by letting their sheep graze in other people’s fields…Moses beheld the strange sight of the bush that burns but is not burnt…He was most likely not the first person to pass the burning bush. He was the first, however, to wonder, to get off the main road and “turn aside” to look closely at the “great sight.” When God saw that he was not like most people, who have no time or patience to stop their rush and pay attention to the wonders that fill the world, He called to him out of the midst of the bush:

Pinchas Peli (20^th Century)