TO UNDERSTAND THE SCENE

Moses and the Burning Bush ; Michiel van der BORCH ; illuminated miniature on vellum from Jacob van Maerlant’s « Rhimebible » of Utrecht ; manuscript MMW 10 B 21; Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague

 Meermanno

Moses and the Burning Bush

The Book of Exodus, chapter 3

Moses, a young “son of Israel” is brought up at the court of Pharaoh but he must soon flee from Egypt and settle among the nomads of Madian.

One day he grazes the cattle of his father-in-law; he comes “to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

And the angel of the LORD appeared to 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. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am .

And he said, Do not draw near hither: put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground.

Moreover 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 upon God.

Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations. (Exodus 3:2-6 + 15)

Comment

It is a capital moment in the revelation of God’s name in the Bible. Until then, God was only the God of the ancestors; he reveals himself now as the Being “I am”

Moses and the Burning Bush

From the burning bush a voice rises but how to represent it? Hence a rather traditional image of God with the features of Christ or of the Father.

Some artists prefer to refuse any human image of God.

The representation of the scene at the heart of a natural landscape gives a particular meaning to the relation between God and Nature.

When it is the “Virgin and Child” who is enthroned on the burning bush, it is always a representation of God. As if Moses saw the future incarnation of God.

But this also a Byzantine theme; the bush burning without being consumed is a symbol of the virginity of Mary.

God has a name

The name of a person has a meaning. This name can refer to a saint, model or protector, or to a famous figure. The name gives a reference, some meaning, to the person with the name and some believe their destiny is determined by their Christian names. To give a name to God has therefore a deep meaning.

To say the name of God is not indifferent either and swearwords always concern “the name of God”.

The God of the Bible can be defined as the Being in opposition to nothingness but also to the other gods of paganism that have each a name and a particular form.

The name revealed in the burning bush is written “IHVH”.

These 4 Hebrew letters (or tetragrammaton)        correspond to the verb “He is”. The vowels are not written in Hebrew and so it is difficult to know how to pronounce it since only the High Priest was allowed to do it only once a year, on Yum Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Therefore Jews do not pronounce the name of God as a sign of respect; when they read IHVH, they say “Adonai”, that is to say “Lord”.

Christians said “Jehovah” in the 19^th century; nowadays, there a certain agreement to pronounce “Yahve”.

The divine triangle

The equilateral triangle was as early as Antiquity a symbol of the divine; it became the sign of God, one and Trinity and, in the 17^th century, the tetragrammaton was inscribed inside a radiating triangle.

Refusing to represent God, these letters are an attempt to show who he is: the Being beyond any being (the Name that is not pronounced), the Trinity (the triangle), the Light (the rays).

This image can still be found in churches and on buildings but the 4 letters are sometimes replaced by an eye; the whole then takes a more esoteric meaning like “the All-Seeing Eye in the luminous Delta” of Freemasonry.