God’s Voice From the Burning Bush

When Moshe first encounters God, it is in a sneh, a lowly, thorny bush, burning with fire yet not consumed. The Torah could have chosen any image to introduce God’s redemptive mission. Why this one?

The Midrashim and commentaries offer a number of answers, each revealing a different layer of meaning. One set of answers focus on the mission that Moshe is about to embark on. The image highlights the extent of the Jews suffering and the need to redeem them. The Mechilta explains that the thorn bush reflects the condition of the Jewish people in Egypt. A thorn bush is impossible to enter or exit without injury; a bird that flies into it would be torn limb from limb. So too, the situation of Bnei Yisrael in Egypt was inescapable and brutal. There was no clean way out, no path that did not involve pain. God appears specifically there to show Moshe that He sees the people exactly where they are—trapped, wounded, and suffering. Yet, he will redeem them.

Rashi adds a theological/relational dimension: the fire represents God Himself, teaching that God is not distant from Jewish suffering but present within it. “I am with them in their pain.” At the same time, of course, the image conveys hope. The bush is not consumed. God will ensure they the Jews are not destroyed.

Other Midrashim take the image in a more general theological direction. Shemot Rabbah, for example, teaches that God appears in a thorn bush to show that there is no place devoid of the Divine Presence.

There are also pragmatic explanations. The Mechilta d’Rashbi notes that thorn bushes were not worshiped as idols; God chose a form that would avoid any confusion, theological error, or being tainted by association with idolatry. The Paneach Raza adds that a thorn bush is a tahor place, as people and animals avoid it, making it a fitting setting for revelation.

Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin (Chibba Yeteira) suggests that the image is a lesson, or preparation, for Moshe himself.  The burning bush teaches Moshe something essential about prophecy itself. Once a person receives God’s word, even if the mission is overwhelming and frightening, there is no turning back. The fire does not merely surround the bush; it burns within. Prophecy creates an inner compulsion.

This idea finds powerful expression in the words of Yirmiyahu:

וְאָמַרְתִּ֣י לֹֽא־אֶזְכְּרֶ֗נּוּ וְלֹֽא־אֲדַבֵּ֥ר עוֹד֙ בִּשְׁמ֔וֹ וְהָיָ֤ה בְלִבִּי֙ כְּאֵ֣שׁ בֹּעֶ֔רֶת עָצֻ֖ר בְּעַצְמֹתָ֑י וְנִלְאֵ֥יתִי כַּֽלְכֵ֖ל וְלֹ֥א אוּכָֽל׃

“I said: I will not mention Him, nor speak anymore in His name—but His word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I could not contain it.” (Yirmiyahu 20:9)

God was teaching Moshe that once he internalized the Divine message, he would be driven by his own conscience to act. The mission would no longer driven by external pressure; following it would become an internal necessity.

And that lesson extends far beyond Moshe. The Torah does not ask us merely to obey, but to internalize. We are to absorb its values so deeply that they shape who we are, to reach a point where seeking truth, doing what is right, and living by Torah are not choices we weigh each time, but imperatives that burn within us, even when the path is difficult.

Rabbi Pinchas Rosenthal, in his eulogy for Rabbi Reuven Mann zt”l, described exactly this quality, noting this same verse in Yirmiyahu. Rabbi Mann’s desire for truth and for teaching Torah burned in his bones. You felt that he had to teach, that spreading Torah was not optional for him—it was who he was. We too should be guided by this example and ensure Torah becomes part of our very essence so that it will guide us forward, compelling us to act, to teach, and to seek truth, no matter the challenges.