Exodus — Chapter 3

Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law near Horeb, the mountain of God. Lapide notes that God reveals Himself not to the idle or the ambitious, but to the humble and laborious. Moses tending sheep prefigures Christ the Good Shepherd; the mountain of God prefigures Calvary. The fathers of souls must first learn to pasture flocks before they govern men.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and the bush was burning, yet was not consumed. Lapide identifies the angel as the Second Person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Word, since this same figure is later called \"God\" and \"the Lord\" without qualification (vers. 4, 6). The burning bush not consumed is universally interpreted as the Blessed Virgin Mary: she bore the fire of divinity in her womb yet was not consumed, her virginity remaining intact before, during, and after the birth of Christ. So Ambrose, Augustine, and Cassiodorus.

Moses said: \"I will go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.\" Lapide observes that Moses turned aside from his ordinary path to investigate the wonder. He draws the moral: the contemplative soul does not pass by divine signs without investigation; curiositas spiritualis (holy spiritual inquisitiveness, as distinct from vain curiosity) is the beginning of divine revelation. God reveals Himself only to those who turn aside from the common road to inquire.

Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Lapide: the removal of sandals signifies the putting off of mortal and earthly affections when one approaches God in contemplation or ministry. He cites Gregory the Great (Pastoral Rule I) who applies this to bishops: before ascending to rule others they must strip off worldly desires as sandals made from the skin of dead animals—dead works of the flesh.

I am 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. Lapide notes that from this passage Our Lord confuted the Sadducees who denied the resurrection (Mt. 22:32): God is not the God of the dead but of the living, therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must live. The revelation of the Divine Name to Moses on holy ground shows that the knowledge of God demands reverent trembling, not presumptuous familiarity.

I have come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land that flows with milk and honey. Lapide gives the allegorical interpretation: Egypt is the world and the flesh; the desert is the way of penance and mortification; Canaan flowing with milk and honey is heaven. The \"flowing with milk and honey\" (lacte et melle fluens) prefigures the sweetness of the beatific vision, in which the soul receives without end the milk of divine wisdom and the honey of divine charity.

Come, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou mayst bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Moses is now commissioned. Lapide notes that the divine commission comes unsought—Moses was pursuing his ordinary vocation of shepherd when God called him. He cites Gregory (Past. I): the true pastor is the one who is found faithful in small responsibilities before being called to great ones. Moses tended his father-in-law's flock for forty years before being trusted with the flock of God.

I will be with thee: and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou shalt have brought my people out of Egypt, thou shalt offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain. The sign God gives Moses is future: the proof of the mission will only be visible after the mission is completed. This demands pure faith from Moses—he must act before he sees the confirming sign. Lapide notes this as the structure of all divine mission: we are sent on the strength of God's word alone, and the confirmation comes only to those who have already obeyed.

God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS hath sent me to you. Lapide calls this the supreme name of God and the greatest revelation of divine metaphysics in the Old Testament. He develops seven senses of EGO SUM QUI SUM. First, God is the immense pelagus of being, from which all finite being flows as from its universal source, citing Nyssene and Bernard (De Consid. V). Second, God is immutable and constant; what changes does not properly exist but ceases to be what it was. Third, God is eternal, possessing present existence without past or future, as Nazianzen teaches: \"was\" and \"will be\" are divisions of temporal, fleeting nature; God simply IS. Fourth, God alone has being from Himself; all other things receive being from His will. Fifth, in God there are no accidents: His goodness, wisdom, and power are identical with His essence—citing Bernard: \"God is such as charity, knows as truth, sits as equity, governs as majesty.\" Sixth, God is actus purissimus et simplicissimus, simple and uncompounded; any composition would make Him posterior to His parts. Seventh, God's being is universal, unlimited, and infinite; since He has being from Himself, it could not be determined or limited by another. This name, says Lapide, contains all divine attributes implicitly, so that if you add anything you add nothing, and if you remove anything you remove nothing.