Standing on Holy Ground

NLT Exodus 3:1-6

  “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. ⁶ I am the God of your father^[c]—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

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Why is this ponderable?

It happened circa 1514 BCE--not millions of years ago. The burning bush got Moses’ attention so that a Higher Power could speak with him privately up on mount Sinai [Coordinates: 28°32′23″N 33°58′24″E]. This location is, in itself, ponderable. Mount Sinai or Mount Moses is located on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is the traditional site where Moses received the Covenant from God. At 2285 meters in height, it takes about 3 hours to climb the 7,498-foot peak following the Path of Moses, a stairway of nearly 4,000 steps. There, Moses received instructions about returning to Egypt to meet with Pharaoh to release the enslaved people. The burning bush effect was just that, a special effect performed by an angel of God. The bush was not actually burning. It was only meant to look like it was so that Moses would know it was a very unusual event that he must check out. It was not unusual for lightning to set a thorn-bush ablaze and jeopardize his sheep. But in this case it was unusual as the bush was not being consumed by the rapid oxidation. Also, an angel was calling Moses name from the bush’s center.. 

So we should ponder what it was about this particular site that made it "holy ground" and why was Moses instructed to remove his sandals here. Keep in mind that Moses heard the voice of God without seeing who or what was speaking to him.

The Bible says Moses made two sojourns here to receive God's instructions, spending 40 days on the mountain each time, Moses met with God again sometime after the burning bush incident, but before he went to free the children of Israel from Egypt. This time, Moses  asks God "Show me your glory." God responds that He cannot be seen by any human being. But, advises Moses, "Stand in the cleft of the rock" and "you will see My back, but my face must not be seen." This proclamation is also ponderable, but that will be covered in another discussion. For now, we are pondering the holy ground where all of this takes place.

At the start of the exodus, Moses brought the people out of the camp to witness God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. It was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. To the readers in ancient times, this scene must have had a magical nuance. To us in the 21st Century it sounds very familiar, It sounds like a rocket landing or taking off. But that would still be speculation and does not answer why this was deemed "holy ground" nor why bare feet were necessary for this encounter. Although our pondering has provided a few clues to the mystery, it is still unresolved.

 

The mystery goes beyond this burning bush incident. Moses was not the only human being to see God. According to ancient Jewish tradition, the first one occurs in 2 Enoch 22 which portrays Enoch's encounter with the Lord in the celestial realm. Enoch recounts: "I saw the view of the face of the Lord, like iron made burning hot in a fire and brought out, and it emits sparks and is incandescent. Thus even I saw the face of the Lord." But there were also earlier incidents in which God was heard but not seen. God spoke with Adam and Eve in Eden (Gen 3:9–19); with Cain (Gen 4:9–15); with Noah (Gen 6:13, Gen 7:1, Gen 8:15) and his sons (Gen 9:1-8); and with Abraham and his wife Sarah (Gen 18). He also appears twice to Hagar, the slave-girl who has Abraham's first child, Ishmael (Gen 16).

There’s no way to know exactly when Moses encountered the burning bush, it was however just before Moses and his brother Aaron approached Pharaoh to release Moses’ people. We know that it was not any of the Ramses, as some speculate, as they were not in power during the 1500s BCE (which was the Eighteenth Dynasty for Egypt). The 3 Pharaohs it could have been were Nebpehtire Ahmose I, Djeserkare Amenhotep I, Aakheperkare Thutmose I, or some combination of all 3 of them.