Exo 3.1-22 tells us about Moses and God speaking to him from the burning bush on Mount Horeb, another name for Sinai; God sends Moses as a shaliach to deliver Israel out of Egypt; the revelation of God’s name Yehovah to Moses.
v 1…Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro (Yitro) his father-in-law, the priest (chief) of Midian (Madian); and he led the flock to the back side (west) of the wilderness, and came to Horeb (Sinai; we are going to present the case for Jabal Al Lawz (almond mountain) in northwest Saudi Arabia. First of all, we know that Midian is there and we are going to identify a city 20 miles east, where Yitro lived, and Jebel Al Lawz is in the area. Al Bad is Madian, and we will have more on this. We will also be able to show where Kadesh Barnea was, and this will differ from the traditional site also. In Num 10.29-31, we have some evidence that proves Mount Sinai was in the land of Midian because Moses needed Hobab the Midianite (the brother-in-law of Moses) as an expert (local) scout. Hobab was familiar with the area, not the Sinai Peninsula. He visited and traveled that area, between Jebel Al Lawz and Ezion Geber, north to Edom. When Moses saw the burning bush, he had gone to the “rear wilderness” of Midian. He went to the “achar” in Hebrew (behind side), which can also mean “west.” He went to the western end of the wilderness, where pasture lands begin and there was Jebel Al Lawz. Moses would have been on the eastern side of the mountain when he saw the burning bush. This was not part of the area that Yitro controlled in Midian. So, with that introduction, we are going to go into all of this in more detail. One of the problems is that good archaeological research has not been done at Jebel Al Lawz, so we cannot say for sure if that is the mountain, or if all the things found arranged around the mountain are legitimate. However, there are commentators before the fourth century that tells us where they thought it was, some as far back as 600 years before Helena, the mother of Constantine. The Septuagint (LXX) translates the Hebrew word “Midian” as “Madian” or “Madiam” (both mean the same thing) and this will become important. The translators saw this as a specific city (“polis” in Greek), as in “Madian-polis”, rather than a land. This may have been a city/state at the time. So, we are going to have a city called “Madian” and the region of Madian is called Midian. We believe that it is possible that Yitro/Jethro lived in Madian in Midian, but he was not a Midianite. We will show you who we think he was. In Exo 18.5 it says “then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped at the mount of God.” The LXX says that Jethro, the priest of Madian, went out into the desert to meet Moses. The LXX translators believed that Jethro lived in a city called “Madian.” He then had to go out of the city to meet Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai. Ancient “Madian” has been found and it has been partially excavated and it lies near the city of Al-Bad, which is also called “Mughair Shuayb.” This area was inhabited during the 13-12 centuries B.C. when the Exodus occurred. There is an interesting point here. The Arabic name for this town has a name for Yitro in it (we will see this later). In the LXX, it says that the city of “Madian” had elders in it (Num 22.4). Moses would have followed a trade route south to Midian. That trade route would have continued south along the east coast of the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea) to Ophir and Sheba, etc. Jewish traders used this route also during the late fourth-early third centuries B.C. serving the Ptolemies and Alexandria, Egypt. Archaeology has found pottery and much evidence for Midian, and the city of Madian having a presence during the time of the Exodus, giving evidence for Jebel Al Lawz as the site of Mount Sinai. There is no such evidence or presence at Jebel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula. What we are attempting to show is that Jebel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula was not even thought of as the site of Mount Sinai until the fourth century A.D. and Helena, the mother of Constantine. Mount Sinai was near the home of Yitro because he met Moses there, and Yitro lived in Madian, in Midian. After Moses married Zipporah, they made their home in Madian, or “Madian-polis” according to the LXX. Mount Sinai is nearby, about 18 miles east. Philo was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher (25 BC to 50 AD) living in Alexandria, and he was a contemporary of Yeshua, and he tells us where the Jews thought Mount Sinai was. He said it was the “highest and most sacred of the mountains in its region.” Jebel Musa is the Sinai Peninsula is not the tallest, but Jebel Al Lawz, east of Madian, is the tallest mountain in the region. He places Sinai “east” of the Sinai Peninsula and south of the promised land, or northwest Arabia, near the city of Madian. Philo also used the terms “Arab” and “Arabia” and these terms were restricted to the land east of the Gulf of Aqaba, where Yitro and the Ishmaelites lived (“Philo of Alexandria and the Exodus Route: 50 A.D.”, Bible.CA, Internet, by Steve Rudd). Josephus also described Mount Sinai as the tallest mountain in the region. Arabia was the Arabian peninsula, and the Jews in Alexandria prospered nicely from the trade that came from there, and from places as far east as India. This clearly shows that Jews during the time of Yeshua and Paul thought Mount Sinai was in Arabia. Another good source for information is an article in Bible Review, April 2000, called “Mount Sinai in Arabia?” by Allen Kerkeslager. Paul was in Arabia in Gal 1.17 and said Mount Sinai is in Arabia (Gal 4.25). Arabia was considered to be east of the Jordan River and the Arabian Peninsula, and it would include south Jordan, coming down into what we call Saudi Arabia in the time of Paul. They would have considered Arabia to be east of the Gulf of Aqaba also. Paul may have gone into the wilderness for a word from the Lord, much like Moses and Elijah (two witnesses personifying the Torah and the Prophets), and went to Arabia. He may have gone so far as Mount Sinai, like the other two did. When Israel came out of Egypt, they took the Derek Seir (Edom) trade route road to the north tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, where Rephidim was located. The Amalekites had come down from the Petra area and Edom and confronted Israel there (Exo 17). After the Amalekites were defeated, Israel would have turned south into northwest Arabia. Jebel Al Lawz is the tallest mountain in the region of Madian-polis. So, we have Philo, Josephus and ancient chronologers all saying Sinai is in northwest Arabia. Origen, Eusebius and Jerome, who were living in the third to fifth centuries A.D., recorded that Mount Sinai was in Arabia. This belief survived in monasteries around Madian until the Moslem conquest in the seventh century A.D. Then it appears in Islamic writings. By the ninth century A.D., Madian had become identified in Moslem tradition as the home of Yitro. Jethro became identified with the pre-Islamic prophet Shiayb (mentioned earlier), whose name is preserved in the local name given to Al Bad, or ancient Madian, as “Mughair Shiayb.” So, this town has “their” name for Yitro in it (Shiayb). Jebel Al Lawz was visible to travelers along the routes nearby. The blackened top was a testimony to the mountain burning at the presence of God (Exo 19.18), according to some Jewish travelers. This mountain is only about 18 miles from the ancient Madian, so it is a good candidate for being Mount Sinai in northwest Arabia. Even more in its favor is at 8500 feet, it is the highest peak in the area. The name “Jebel Al Lawz” means “almond mountain.” Why is that significant? We know that Aaron had a rod that was almond (Num 17.1-12).
v 2…And the angel of the Lord (the angel of God’s presence, the eternal word of God) appeared to him in a blazing light from the midst of a bush and he looked and behold, the bush was not consumed (a symbol of Israel, small and lowly and yet can not be consumed because of the Ruach Ha Kodesh that dwells upon them).
v 3…So Moses said, “I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burning up.”
v 4…When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses, Moses (to repeat the name is an expression of affection, like in Gen 22.11 and 46.2).” And he said, “Here am I am (Hebrew “Hineni” meaning “I am ready”; we aren’t perfect but we can be present).”
v 5…Then he said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet (be sensitive to me), for the place on which you are standing is holy ground (“adamat kodesh” meaning it had a kedusha, the ground was set apart to God with certain restrictions and limitations; only the second time “kodesh” has been used in the Torah, the first time was in regards to the sabbath in Gen 2.3).”
v 6…He said also, “I am (present tense) the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (meaning they were all alive at this time in Abraham’s Bosom).” Then Moses his his face, for he was afraid to look at God (in reverence and a feeling of nothingness even before this outward appearance of fire).
v 7…And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
v 8…So I have come down (God is everywhere so it cannot be said that he goes from place to place, but this a human way of speaking, meaning he is about to exert his power, goodness and dominance) to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey (uncultivated), to the place of the Canaanite (trafficker, merchants) and the Hittite (terror) and the Amorite (talkers) and the Perizzite (rustic squatters) and Hivite (liver) and the Jebusite (trodden down; all of these names are the same type of people we encounter after we are delivered).
v 9…And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them (he repeats this to show that God really has taken notice of it).
v 10…Therefore, come now, and I will send you (as a “shaliach” meaning an agent; Joseph was a shaliach when he was sent to Egypt as a type of the Messiah Ben Joseph, or the suffering servant. Moses is sent as a type of the Messiah Ben David and conquering king, both with the first redemption; Yeshua will fulfill both roles in the second redemption) to Pharaoh (the last Pharaoh of the thirteenth dynasty was Dudimose, and we believe he is the Pharaoh of the Exodus- book “Pharaohs and Kings” by David Rohl), that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
v 11…But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt (this is how Moses has changed from his youth, with great influence and authority in the court; but now he sees himself as unfit for such a huge mission, an exile and a poor shepherd in a foreign country).”
v 12…And he said, “Certainly I will be with you (to give you strength, encouragement and whatever you need), and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you; when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain (the sign will be that the people will follow you here).”
v 13…Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is his name.’ What shall I say to them?”
v 14…And God said to Moses, “I am that I am (Hebrew “ehyeh asher ehyeh” or “I will be what I will be”)”; and he said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am (Ehyeh) has sent me to you (that is the explanation of what the name Yehovah, now he is going to give how it should be spoken).”
v 15…And God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel; the Lord (Yehovah), the 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 forever and this is my memorial name (how it should be remembered and spoken) to all generations (the name Yehovah is made up of “hayah” meaning “he was”; “hoveh” meaning he is; and “yiyeh” meaning he will be; the consonants are Yod, Hay, Vav, Hay, and the vowels for Yehovah (YHVH) can be found in the word “olam” or “forever” in case one forgets how to say it).
v 16…Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, “The Lord (Yehovah), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely remembered you (“pakod pakodti” or visited you, said twice in Gen 50.24 alluding to the first and second redemption; this is the first redemption, and Messiah will bring the second redemption-Luke 1.68, 19.44) and what has been done to you in Egypt.”
v 17…So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey (uncultivated).
v 18…And they will pay heed to what you say; and you and the elders of Israel will come to the king of egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go on a three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God (notice he tells they elders that they were going to Canaan, but to Pharaoh they wanted a three days journey into the wilderness to worship God; this three days is important).’
v 19…But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion (under a mighty hand).
v 20…So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles which I will do in the midst of it (plagues); and after that he will let you go.
v 21…And I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.
v 22…But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house articles of silver and articles of Gold and clothing and you shall put them upon your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians (Hebrew “natzaltem” and “natzal” is the the root meaning to “snatch from danger” and to “rescue from a wild beast, to recover property; this is the word used for the concept of the “rapture”; for a further and deeper explanation of this word, see the book, “Pentateuch and Haftorahs” by Joseph Hertz, Soncino Press, p. 217)
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