출애굽기 Chapter 3

Translation: ESV

1

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Key Message

God meets His people in the midst of the ordinary wilderness of everyday life; sacred encounters can happen anytime and anywhere.

▸While Moses was tending sheep in the ordinary daily life, God appears to him.

While Moses was tending sheep in the ordinary daily life, God appears to him. The ordinary desert routine becomes the place where God is encountered. Mount Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai—the holy place where Israel would later receive the law. God meets His servant not in a splendid palace but on a mountain in the wilderness.

Related Verses

And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
2

And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

Key Message

God's presence is like a fire that burns but is not consumed—eternal—and God's glory is revealed through the weak.

▸The burning bush is a powerful image symbolizing the presence of God.

4

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.'

Key Message

God calls by name those who pay attention to Him, and responding with 'Here I am' to that call is the beginning of one's calling.

▸The God who 'saw that he turned aside to see' is One who waits for human attention and response.

5

Then he said, 'Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.'

Key Message

Wherever God's presence is, that is a holy place; we must approach with reverence, laying aside our secular selves.

▸Removing one's sandals expresses the humility and reverence of a human being standing before the holy God.

6

And he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Key Message

God is the God of covenant in history, and reverential awe before that holy presence is the right response of faith.

▸God introduces Himself as 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

7

Then the LORD said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,

Key Message

God clearly sees, hears, and knows the suffering of His people—He never watches indifferently.

▸God expresses thorough awareness of Israel's suffering through three verbs—'seen', 'heard', and 'know'.

10

Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

Key Message

When God sees the suffering of His people, He acts—but He chooses to intervene in history by working through people.

▸God's awareness of suffering (vv.

11

But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'

Key Message

Confessing one's insufficiency before a calling opens the door to the promise that God will accompany as a co-worker.

▸Moses' first objection is a confession of his own inadequacy.

12

He said, 'But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.'

Key Message

God's accompaniment is the sufficient ground for calling, and the future faithfulness experienced only after obedience is the sign for the present.

▸God's answer is not 'you are sufficient' but 'I will be with you.

14

God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.'

Key Message

God's name 'I AM WHO I AM' declares that no creature can fully define Him, and that He is the eternally present One.

▸'I AM WHO I AM (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh)' is one of the deepest theological declarations in all of Scripture.

17

and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction 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.

Key Message

God not only liberates from oppression but also leads to a life of abundance; salvation includes both liberation and restoration.

▸'A land flowing with milk and honey' is a symbolic expression of God's promise regarding the land of Canaan.