Exodus 3:2

Clementine Latin Vulgate

Cui respondit mulier : De fructu lignorum, quæ sunt in paradiso, vescimur :

Parallel Translations

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Apparuitque ei Dominus in flamma ignis de medio rubi: et videbat quod rubus arderet, et non combureretur.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
Apparuitque ei angelus Domini in flamma ignis de medio rubi; et videbat quod rubus arderet et non combureretur.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

angel: Exodus 3:4, Exodus 3:6, Genesis 16:7-13, Genesis 22:15, Genesis 22:16, Genesis 48:16, Deuteronomy 33:16, Isaiah 63:9, Hosea 12:4, Hosea 12:5, Malachi 3:1, Luke 20:37, Acts 7:30-35

bush burned: Genesis 15:13-17, Deuteronomy 4:20, Psalms 66:12, Isaiah 43:2, Isaiah 53:10, Isaiah 53:11, Daniel 3:27, Zechariah 13:7, John 1:14, Romans 8:3, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

Reciprocal: Genesis 15:17 - smoking Genesis 16:10 - the angel Exodus 19:18 - in fire Exodus 23:20 - Angel Exodus 24:17 - like devouring fire Leviticus 9:24 - there came a fire Numbers 20:16 - sent an Numbers 22:22 - and the angel Numbers 22:32 - before me Judges 2:1 - And an angel Judges 13:6 - terrible 1 Kings 19:12 - a fire Isaiah 54:11 - thou afflicted Zechariah 3:1 - the angel Mark 12:26 - in the book Luke 2:8 - abiding Revelation 8:3 - another

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him,.... Not a created angel, but the Angel of God's presence and covenant, the eternal Word and Son of God; since he is afterwards expressly called Jehovah, and calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which a created angel would never do: the appearance was,

in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush; not in a tall, lofty, spreading oak or cedar, but in a low thorny bramble bush, which it might have been thought would have been consumed in an instant of time:

and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed; this was not imaginary, but a real thing; there was

such a bush, and Jehovah appeared in it in this manner, and though it was all on fire yet was not consumed, but remained entire after it: reference is frequently had to it as a matter of fact, Deuteronomy 33:16. Artapanus g, an Heathen writer, had got some hint of it; his account is this, that while Moses was praying to God, and entreating the afflictions of his people might cease, he was propitious to him, and on a sudden fire broke out of the earth and burned, when there was no matter nor anything of a woody sort in the place: nor need this account Moses gives be thought incredible, when so many things similar to it are affirmed by Heathen writers, who speak of a whole forest in flames without fire, and of a spear that burned for two hours, and yet nothing of it consumed; and of a servant's coat all on fire, and yet after it was extinguished no trace or mark of the flames were to be seen on it; and several other things of the like kind are related by Huetius h out of various authors: as to the mystical signification of this bush, some make it to be a type of Christ, and of his manifestation in the flesh; of the union of the two natures in him, and of their distinction of the glory of the one, and of the meanness of the other; of his sustaining the wrath of God, and remaining fearless and unhurt by it; and of his delivering and preserving his people from it: the Jews commonly interpret it of the people of Israel, in the furnace of affliction in Egypt, and yet not consumed; nay, the more they were afflicted the more they grew; and it may be a symbol of the church and people of God, in all ages, under affliction and distress: they are like to a thorn bush both for their small quantity, being few, and for their quality, in themselves weak and strengthless, mean and low; have about them the thorns of corruptions and temptations, and who are often in the fire of afflictions and persecutions, yet are not consumed; which is owing to the person, presence, power, and grace of Christ being among them;

Deuteronomy 33:16- :.

g Apud Euseb. ib. c. 27. p. 434. h Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 12. sect. 10. p. 193, 194.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The angel of the Lord - See the note at Genesis 12:7. What Moses saw was the flame of fire in the bush; what he recognized therein was an intimation of the presence of God, who maketh a flame of fire His angel. Compare Psalms 104:4. The words which Moses heard were those of God Himself, as all ancient and most modern divines have held, manifested in the Person of the Son.

Of a bush - Literally, of the bush or “seneh,” a word which ought perhaps to be retained as the proper name of a thorny shrub common in that district, a species of acacia.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 3:2. The angel of the Lord — Not a created angel certainly; for he is called יהוה Jehovah, Exodus 3:4, c., and has the most expressive attributes of the Godhead applied to him, Exodus 3:14, c. Yet he is an angel, מלאך malach, a messenger, in whom was the name of God, Exodus 23:21 and in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, Colossians 2:9 and who, in all these primitive times, was the Messenger of the covenant, Malachi 3:1. And who was this but JESUS, the Leader, Redeemer, and Saviour of mankind? Genesis 16:7.

A flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush — Fire was, not only among the Hebrews but also among many other ancient nations, a very significant emblem of the Deity. God accompanied the Israelites in all their journeyings through the wilderness as a pillar of fire by night; and probably a fire or flame in the holy of holies, between the cherubim, was the general symbol of his presence; and traditions of these things, which must have been current in the east, have probably given birth, not only to the pretty general opinion that God appears in the likeness of fire, but to the whole of the Zoroastrian system of fire-worship. It has been reported of Zoroaster, or Zeradusht, that having retired to a mountain for the study of wisdom, and the benefit of solitude, the whole mountain was one day enveloped with flame, out of the midst of which he came without receiving any injury; on which he offered sacrifices to God, who, he was persuaded, had then appeared to him. M. Anquetil du Perron gives much curious information on this subject in his Zend Avesta. The modern Parsees call fire the off-spring of Ormusd, and worship it with a vast variety of ceremonies.

Among the fragments attributed to AEschylus, and collected by Stanley in his invaluable edition of this poet, p. 647, Colossians 1:0, we find the following beautiful verses: -

Χωριζε θνητων τον Θεον, και μη δοκει

Ὁμοιον αυτῳ σαρκινον καθεσταναι.

Ουκ οισθα δ' αυτον· ποτε μεν ὡς πυρ φαινεται

Απλαστον ὁρμῃ· ποτε δ' ὑδωρ, ποτε δε γνοφος.

"Distinguish God from mortal men; and do not suppose that any thing fleshly is like unto him. Thou knowest him not: sometimes indeed he appears as a formless and impetuous FIRE, sometimes as water, sometimes as thick darkness." The poet proceeds: -

Τρεμει δ' ορη, και γαια, και πελεριος

Βυθος θαλασσης, κωρεων ὑψος μεγα,

Ὁταν επιβλεψῃ γοργον ομμα δεσποτου.

"The mountains, the earth, the deep and extensive sea, and the summits of the highest mountains tremble whenever the terrible eye of the Supreme Lord looks down upon them."

These are very remarkable fragments, and seem all to be collected from traditions relative to the different manifestations of God to the Israelites in Egypt, and in the wilderness. Moses wished to see God, but he could behold nothing but an indescribable glory: nothing like mortals, nothing like a human body, appeared at any time to his eye, or to those of the Israelites. "Ye saw no manner of similitude," said Moses, "on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the FIRE," Deuteronomy 4:15. But sometimes the Divine power and justice were manifested by the indescribable, formless, impetuous, consuming flame; at other times he appeared by the water which he brought out of the flinty rock; and in the thick darkness on Horeb, when the fiery law proceeded from his right hand, then the earth quaked and the mountain trembled: and when his terrible eye looked out upon the Egyptians through the pillar of cloud and fire, their chariot wheels were struck off, and confusion and dismay were spread through all the hosts of Pharaoh; Exodus 14:24-25.

And the bush was not consumed. —

1. An emblem of the state of Israel in its various distresses and persecutions: it was in the fire of adversity, but was not consumed.

2. An emblem also of the state of the Church of God in the wilderness, in persecutions often, in the midst of its enemies, in the region of the shadow of death-yet not consumed.

3. An emblem also of the state of every follower of Christ: cast down, but not forsaken; grievously tempted, but not destroyed; walking through the fire, but still unconsumed!

Why are all these preserved in the midst of those things which have a natural tendency to destroy them! Because GOD IS IN THE MIDST OF THEM; it was this that preserved the bush from destruction; and it was this that preserved the Israelites; and it is this, and this alone, that preserves the Church, and holds the soul of every genuine believer in the spiritual life. He in whose heart Christ dwells not by faith, will soon be consumed by the world, the flesh, and the devil.