Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Moses, while pasturing the sheep of Jethro, is called by the Lord in a bush that is burning yet unconsumed; and from Him he is sent to Pharaoh to liberate the Hebrews. Second, at verse 13, he asks the name of God, who says: I am who I am.
Vulgate Text: Exodus 3:1-22
1. Now Moses was pasturing the sheep of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and when he had driven the flock to the interior parts of the desert, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 2. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he saw that the bush was burning yet was not consumed. 3. Moses said therefore: I will go and see this great vision, why the bush is not burned. 4. And when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, He called to him from the midst of the bush and said: Moses, Moses. He answered: Here I am. 5. And He said: Do not come near here; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 6. And He said: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he dared not look upon God. 7. And the Lord said to him: I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the harshness of those who are over the works: 8. and knowing their sorrow, I have come down to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land flowing with milk and honey, to the places of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 9. The cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have seen their affliction with which they are oppressed by the Egyptians. 10. But come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. 11. And Moses said to God: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12. And He said to him: I will be with you, and this you shall have as a sign that I have sent you: When you shall have brought My people out of Egypt, you shall offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain. 13. Moses said to God: Behold, I shall go to the children of Israel, and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you. If they shall say to me: What is His name? — what shall I say to them? 14. God said to Moses: I AM WHO I AM. He said: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS has sent me to you. 15. And God said again to Moses: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The Lord 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 unto generation and generation. 16. Go, and gather together the elders of Israel, and you shall say to them: The Lord God of your fathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, saying: Visiting I have visited you, and I have seen all that has befallen you in Egypt: 17. and I have said that I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt, into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. 18. And they shall hear your voice; and you shall go in, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews has called us; we will go a three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice to the Lord our God. 19. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, except by a mighty hand. 20. For I will stretch forth My hand, and I will strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst of them; after these things he will let you go. 21. And I will give favor to this people in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you depart, you shall not go out empty: 22. but every woman shall ask of her neighbor and of her that sojourns in her house, vessels of silver and gold, and garments; and you shall put them upon your sons and daughters, and you shall despoil Egypt.
Verse 1: Now Moses Was Pasturing the Sheep of Jethro
NOW MOSES WAS PASTURING THE SHEEP OF JETHRO. — For the 40 years during which he lived in Midian, Moses was a shepherd of sheep; then for the same number of years he was the shepherd and leader of the people. "For the pastoral art" (says Philo) "is a prelude to kingship, that is, to the governance of men, the gentlest of flocks. He alone can be a king perfect in every respect who has well mastered the pastoral art, and by tending lesser animals has learned how he ought to preside over the more excellent." Thus Saul, while tending donkeys, was anointed king by Samuel; and likewise David was called from the sheep to the kingdom: hence Homer also calls Agamemnon shepherd of peoples.
By this threefold period of forty years the life of Moses was, as it were, consecrated: for he lived in the court of Pharaoh for 40 years; then, having escaped by flight, he tended the sheep of Jethro in Midian for another 40 years, as is evident from Acts 7:30. Third, returning from Midian to Egypt, he was the leader of the people in the desert for the last 40 years of his life: so Eusebius. For Moses died at the age of 120, Deuteronomy, last chapter.
One may ask, what did Moses do during these 40 years? Philo answers: first, that by tending sheep he learned to tend and govern a people; second, that he exercised himself in philosophy and wisdom; third, that he devoted himself to virtues and the taming of his passions. "For philosophy is vain unless it flows into action, just as medicine is vain unless it cures diseases: so too philosophy, unless it heals the vices of the soul," says Plutarch. Fourth, during these years Moses devoted himself to prayer and contemplation, by which he was being prepared by God for the governance of so great a people, as will soon become evident.
Fifth, Pererius adds: It is believed, he says, that Moses at that time wrote the Book of Job and the Book of Genesis, in order to console and strengthen the Hebrews oppressed in Egypt, both by the example of Job's patience and the consolation and happiness that followed, and by the examples of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and by the promises made to them concerning the liberation from Egypt and the possession of the land of Canaan; but I have spoken of this matter elsewhere.
OF JETHRO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW. This is the true reading: for so the Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Septuagint, and the Roman have it, both here and in chapter 4, verse 18, as well as St. Jerome Against Helvidius. Therefore others read incorrectly: "of Jethro his kinsman." Hence it is apparent that Zipporah, the wife of Moses, was the daughter of Jethro; and since the same woman is called the daughter of Raguel in chapter 2, verse 21, it follows that Raguel and Jethro are the same person.
AND WHEN HE HAD DRIVEN THE FLOCK. "Minare" is a Latin word, proper to shepherds who direct sheep with a staff; hence the grammarian says: "The shepherd drives (minat) the sheep with his staff, the wolf threatens (minatur) with his mouth."
TO THE INTERIOR OF THE DESERT. In Hebrew, "after the desert," that is, following the desert into its farther parts, that is, its interior: so the Chaldean, the Septuagint, Vatablus, and others. Moses withdrew into the innermost wilderness, from a desire for prayer and quieter contemplation, and so that he might offer his vows for his Hebrews more freely and ardently, and so that he might exercise himself in the arena of virtue under the guidance of reason: by which he might prepare himself for both kinds of life, namely the active and the contemplative, says Philo.
Morally, learn here that solitude is most suited to prayer, the cultivation of the mind, quiet, and perfection; whence David says in Psalm 54: "I went far away, fleeing, and I remained in solitude"; and in Hosea 2, the Lord says: "I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart." Here we learn to tend and govern three flocks: namely, first, the body and the members and movements of the body; second, the soul, namely all the senses and affections of the soul; third, the spirit, namely the intellect, the will, the memory, and all the thoughts and affections of the mind, to purify them from all the dregs of errors and vices, and to order and conform them to the norm of truth and the divine law. And this is the blessedness of this life.
Happy indeed, "for the supreme good is a mind that despises the things of fortune, rejoicing in virtue, a healthy mind beyond fear and desire, and in the perpetual possession of its own health." And, as St. Cyprian says to Donatus: "There is one calm and faithful tranquility, one solid and perpetual security, if a person, extracted from the whirlwinds of a restless world, drawing near to his God in mind, may glory that whatever among others seems lofty and great in human affairs lies beneath his conscience: he who is greater than the world can no longer desire or seek anything from the world." Moreover Seneca, in Epistle 84, says: "Leave behind riches, which are either a danger or a burden to their possessors; leave behind bodily pleasures: they soften and weaken; leave behind ambition: it is a swollen thing, vain, windy, having no limit; it is as anxious not to see anyone before it, as not to be behind another; it labors under envy, and indeed a double envy. Direct yourself to wisdom; seek the most tranquil and at the same time the most ample things. If you wish to ascend this summit, to which fortune has submitted itself, you will look down upon all things that are considered most exalted."
For this reason so many thousands of Saints of old withdrew into the desert. Thus Paul the First Hermit lived unknown in the desert for 79 years, Onuphrius for 70 years, but they were known at their death, when they were transferred from earthly solitude to heavenly celebration. Arsenius used to say: "He could not dwell with God and with men at the same time." St. Antony, when summoned by the Emperor Constantine, refused to go, saying: "If I go to the Emperor, I shall be Antony; but if not, I shall be Abbot Antony." He used to say to his monks: "It is not fitting for Christ's servants to frequent the houses of worldly men: for just as fish taken out of water are wont to grow faint and die, so a monk who abandons his monastery for conversation is reduced to tepidity of heart, and becomes slower in spiritual exercises."
Svatopluk, king of Bohemia, defeated by the Emperor Arnulph, fled into the desert, and lived unknown among the hermits. Dying, he called them together and said: "I am the king of the Bohemians, who, defeated in battle, fled to you; and having experienced both the royal life and the private life, I die: no fortune of a kingdom is to be preferred to the tranquility of the desert. Here peaceful sleep makes the sweet roots of herbs satisfying; there cares and dangers make every food, every drink bitter. The life that God has given me among you, I have passed happily: whatever time was spent in the kingdom was death rather than life." So Aeneas Silvius, History of Bohemia, chapter 13.
Likewise the Emperor Charles V used to say that, after resigning his empire, he had received more pleasure in one day in his monastic solitude than from all his victories and triumphs, in which he had been more fortunate than most.
Hear St. Jerome in the desert: "Wherever," he says, "I beheld the hollows of valleys, the roughness of mountains, the steep cliffs, there was the place of my prayer: and, as the Lord Himself is my witness, after many tears, after my eyes were fixed upon heaven, sometimes I seemed to myself to be present among the ranks of angels, and joyful and rejoicing I used to sing: We will run after You in the fragrance of Your ointments." So he writes to Eustochium, On Virginity.
Therefore, whoever desires to enjoy God and the angels, let him say in his cell: "I went far away, fleeing, and I remained in solitude"; there he will hear God speaking to him: "I will lead him into the wilderness, and I will speak to his heart." Rightly therefore St. Jerome says to Rusticus the monk: "As long as you are in your homeland, hold your little cell as a paradise, pluck the various fruits of Scripture, make use of these delights." And St. Bernard: "The cell is an earthly heaven." Finally St. Jerome to Heliodorus: "O desert, blooming with the flowers of Christ! O solitude in which are born the stones from which in the Apocalypse the city of the great King is built! O wilderness, rejoicing more intimately in God!"
HE CAME TO THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD, HOREB. — It is called here "the mountain of God" by prolepsis, for it was not then but afterward that this mountain was called "the mountain of God" on account of God's glory revealed there (as the Chaldean renders it), and the law given there in Exodus 19.
HOREB. — This is Mount Sinai, which is called Horeb from dryness or solitude. It is likewise called Sinai from the abundance of bushes; for seneh in Hebrew signifies a bush. However, Adrichomius and others note that Horeb is properly a part, or prominent ridge, of Mount Sinai.
Note: eight miracles occurred at Sinai. First, God appeared here to Moses in the bush. Second, Moses there struck the rock and gave water to the people from it, as is clear from chapter 17, verse 6. Third, Moses there praying and raising his hands obtained that Joshua should conquer Amalek, chapter 17, verse 10. Fourth, the law was given there by God, Exodus 19. Fifth, Moses there lived forty days without food, conversing with God, and received the tablets of the law. Sixth, the Hebrews there worshipped the golden calf; and therefore Moses broke the tablets of the law and slew many of the people. Seventh, Elijah there saw God in the whisper of a gentle breeze, 3 Kings chapter 19. Eighth, on this mountain the body of Blessed Catherine was buried by angels.
Finally, on Sinai was erected that famous asceticon, or monastery, in which religious men remarkably exercised themselves in all the labors of penance, prayer, and every virtue, over which Blessed John Climacus presided, who there, like another Moses, received from God, through prayer and meditation, the tablets of divine law — that is, the instructions for monastic life and religious perfection — which he also left in writing for posterity in that renowned book called the Climax, or Ladder of Paradise.
Verse 2: The Lord Appeared to Him in a Flame of Fire
2. AND THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM. — This apparition was made to Moses after he had dwelt forty years in Midian, in the eightieth year of his life, as is clear from Acts chapter 7, verse 30. For soon after this vision he was sent by God into Egypt to Pharaoh for the liberation of the Hebrews; and this happened in the eightieth year of Moses, as is clear from Exodus 7:7.
St. Gregory gives a notable mystical reason for this, in book 23 of the Moralia, chapter 20, or according to another edition, chapter 12, namely that God willed to withdraw Moses for forty years from the restless tumults of earthly desires, and to put him, as it were, to sleep, so that he might deserve to perceive the interior voice of God. "Whence also holy men (he says), who are compelled by the necessity of their office to serve in external ministries, studiously always take refuge in the secrets of the heart."
THE LORD. — In the Hebrew, "angel of the Lord"; so also the Septuagint and the Chaldean. You ask, who was this? Theodoret thinks it was the Son of God: for this angel, in verse 14, calls Himself God; therefore He was both angel and God; therefore He was the Son of God, for He alone is the angel, that is, the messenger and envoy sent by the Father; whence in Isaiah 9, He is called "the angel of great counsel."
But I say that this was a true angel. It is proved, first, because he is here simply called an angel; second, because in Acts 7:30, St. Stephen expressly asserts that it was an angel; third, because the common opinion of the Theologians, together with St. Dionysius, chapter 4 of the Celestial Hierarchy, is that all the apparitions of God in the Old Testament were made through angels; whence also that most famous apparition of Exodus chapter 19, in which the law was given, was made through angels, as is clear from Galatians 3:19.
You will say: How then does this angel call himself God? I reply: Because although in service he was an angel, nevertheless in inspiration, representation, and authority he was God; for he sustained and represented the person of God by whom he was sent, and who inspired in him the things he was to say, and spoke through him.
Moreover, this angel bore the person and role of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity: for what he says in verse 8, "I have come down to deliver him" — namely the people of the Hebrews — allegorically signified the Son of God who would one day descend to us and to our flesh, in order to free us from sins. Just as also that angel who went before the Hebrews on the way in the desert toward Canaan performed the role of Christ, who leads us from earth to heaven. Hence also many Fathers hold that in all the apparitions of the Old Testament it was the Son who was represented, not the Father, not the Holy Spirit. So St. Justin, Against Trypho; Tertullian, book 2 Against Marcion; Hilary, book 4 On the Trinity; Ambrose, book 1 On the Faith; Chrysostom, on chapter 7 of Acts.
That this angel was St. Michael is probable: for Michael was formerly the guardian of the Synagogue, as he now is of the Church; and this angel appeared to Moses, not as a private person, but as the future leader of the people and prince of the Synagogue, and instructed him as such, and sent him to Pharaoh. Hence the same angel appeared to Joshua when he was leading the people into the promised land; for when asked who he was, in Joshua 5:14, he answered: "I am the prince of the army of the Lord," who is none other than Michael.
Michael therefore revealed himself from the midst of the bush by a brighter flame to the eyes, by a voice, to the ears of Moses: for that Moses saw no definite form of the angel here — for example, a human form — the following words sufficiently indicate. Moses gives the reason in Deuteronomy 4, lest the Hebrews, inclined to idolatry, might fashion for themselves an idol of him. He appeared therefore in fire and bush only, because neither from those things nor out of them could a statue or idol be formed, says Anastasius in the Questions on Sacred Scripture, question 20. Therefore the phantom that Philo here invents does not seem true, when he says: "From the midst of the bush there shone forth a most beautiful form, similar to nothing visible, a plainly divine image, gleaming with the brightest light, so that Moses might suspect it to be the image of God; let us call it an angel."
God therefore here displayed to Moses no other appearance of Himself than fire; and in that alone — whether as His throne, or rather as a symbol and hieroglyphic by which He might be represented and foreshadowed — He appeared.
IN A FLAME OF FIRE FROM THE MIDST OF A BUSH. This was not the appearance or likeness of fire, but true fire; for otherwise Moses would have been deceived, thinking it to be real fire. And what, I ask, would have been the miracle, if a feigned or disguised fire had not burned the bush? Rather, it would have been a miracle if it had burned it.
Note: This fire was produced by God, or rather by the angel from the air or some other material near the bush; and it inhered subjectively in that material, but not in the bush: for if the fire had been subjectively in the bush, the bush would have been converted into fire, and consequently corrupted and consumed. Therefore the angel, who as usual was here the minister of God, produced this fire naturally by applying active to passive elements, or brought it from elsewhere; and he nourished and sustained it with applied sulfur or other material and fuel; and at the same time he prevented it from acting upon the bush, by introducing into the bush a liquid, or some viscous and very cold sap, which would resist the fire or rather the thin flame: by which method certain street performers are thought to naturally thrust their hands into molten lead, because they have first coated their hands with such a liquid that resists the heat of the molten lead; or the angel did this by another mode and natural cause. More easily, however, it can be said that God here suspended the action of the fire, as I shall presently explain.
AND HE SAW THAT THE BUSH WAS BURNING, AND WAS NOT CONSUMED. Properly speaking, the bush was not burning, but whoever had seen it would have said it was burning: for "to burn" is to emit flame from itself; but the bush was not emitting flame, since this belongs to fire alone, which had not pervaded the bush so as to make it ignited: but being only contiguous to the bush, it so closely surrounded its branches and leaves that it appeared to be ignited and vomiting flames. For Sacred Scripture often, especially in phenomena and apparent things, speaks of them not as they are in themselves on the part of the thing, but as they appear, or as men commonly judge and speak of them. So therefore the bush is here said to burn because, to men ignorant of the thing and the hidden cause of the thing, it appeared to burn, and all who saw it would have said that it was burning. Add that there can be a synecdoche: for the bush is said to have burned because a part of the bush, namely the dry leaves of the bush and the air mixed with the bush, were burning. For "bush," like "forest," denotes the whole complex, namely the whole aggregate of thorns, shrubs, and trees, together with the air and all other material that is inserted and mixed into it. Now in this aggregate, although one part, namely the green branches and leaves, was not burning, another part, namely the air mixed here and there, the stubble, the stalks, and the dry leaves, was burning.
GOD SUSPENDED HIS CONCURRENCE. This appears to have been an illustrious miracle of God: for God here preserved the substance of the fire, but impeded its action and burning (by withdrawing His own concurrence and influence), so that it would not act upon the bush, or dry out or desiccate its green leaves even in the slightest. For when God is unwilling to concur with fire so that it may burn, not even all of hell would have singed a piece of tow; for that axiom of the Theologians is certain: that no created thing can operate without the actual concurrence of God with another thing. In a similar way God preserved the three youths unharmed in the Babylonian furnace, and this is, says St. Basil on Psalm 28, what the Psalmist says: "The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire," since among the pious, namely the three youths just mentioned, He granted it the power of giving light, not of burning; but among the impious and the damned, He granted it the power of burning, not of giving light: for the fire of hell does not illuminate the damned, but burns them, says St. Basil. Hence Philo rightly says: This bush, combustible in itself, seemed not to be burned by the flame, but rather to burn and consume the flame itself; and the flame which usually burns a bush, here seemed not to burn it, but rather to be burned and consumed by the bush.
You will ask, what does this fire signify literally, and the burning and unconsumed bush?
I answer: This fire signified God through the Egyptians setting fire to and afflicting the bush, that is, the Jews, but not consuming them: indeed rather making them more splendid and stronger. For the bush is a weak and thorny shrub, wounding by mere contact; but here it remained unharmed by the fire and was superior to it: which thing signifies that the present weakness of the Hebrews was to be turned into great strength, and that they themselves, through grave and many plagues, as if through the thorns of the bush, were going to prick and severely wound the Egyptians, by whom they were then being oppressed (so Philo and Theodoret say). Therefore this bush silently, says Philo, cried out to both the afflicted Hebrews and the afflicting Egyptians: "Do not succumb, O Hebrews! This weakness of yours is a power that will prick and strike the Egyptians: those who desire to destroy you will preserve you against their will; you will escape so many evils unharmed, and when you shall seem to be most devastated, then your glory will most shine forth. You also, cruel ones, similar to devouring fire, oppressors of the innocent (Egyptians), do not trust too much in your own strength; consider that your most invincible resources, as you think them, will one day be destroyed; behold, the flame by its own nature burns, as wood is burned; but the combustible wood burns in the manner of fire."
You will ask secondly, what does this burning and unconsumed bush signify allegorically?
I answer: Fire in the bush is God in the flesh, or the Word made flesh. For the thorny bush, rough, lowly, and base, signifies the humanity of Christ, which He of His own will took on, subject to many hardships and labors, poor, humble, and despicable, for the sake of our salvation; now just as fire did not consume the bush, so the divinity did not consume the humanity and its mortality and weakness. "By the burning bush," says St. Gregory, Book 28 of the Moralia, chapter 2: "God speaking to Moses, what else did He show, except that from that people One would come forth who, in the fire of His divinity, would take upon Himself the sufferings of our flesh, as thorns of a bush; and would preserve the substance of our humanity unconsumed even in the very flame of His divinity?" Hence also Cyril, against Eutyches, proves that the two natures in Christ remained intact, uninjured, and unconfused, just as in this bush both the bush and the fire remained whole.
Again, fire in the bush, whatever Calvin may contrive, is God conceived in the Blessed Virgin and born with her virginity unharmed. So Theodoret, Rupert, St. Bernard in his sermon On the Blessed Mary, on that text of Apocalypse 12: "A great sign appeared," and Gregory of Nyssa, in his oration On the Nativity of Christ: "As the shrub kindles fire and is not burned: so also the Virgin gives birth to the Light and is not corrupted." Hence the whole Church sings: "The bush which Moses had seen unconsumed, we recognize as your praiseworthy virginity preserved, O holy Mother of God." Note here that virginity is aptly compared to a bush, because it must be preserved through humility and austerity of life: for in pleasures, just as in pride, chastity is in danger.
Furthermore, St. Jerome, in his sermon On the Assumption: "The Blessed Virgin is the whitest wool, to which when the Holy Spirit had drawn near, just as wool dyed with the murex is turned into purple, she too was turned into the Mother of God, so that she was no longer what she had been." She was burning, therefore, as if set aflame with the divine murex, and surrounded by glowing rays, the bush became burning yet unconsumed. And St. Leo, Sermon 1 On the Nativity: "Rightly the birth of salvation brought no corruption to virginal integrity; because the bringing forth of truth was the safeguarding of modesty."
For this reason that Abbot who converted the harlot Porphyria, and incurred the suspicion of having committed sin with her, when dying cleared himself by carrying fire with his garment unharmed, and saying: "Believe, brothers, that just as God kept the bush unconsumed by fire, just as these coals have not burned this tunic of mine, so neither have I known the sin of a woman, from the time I was born." So it is recorded in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver. Likewise St. Cunegunde proved her chastity before her husband the Emperor Henry, by walking unharmed with bare feet over red-hot iron.
Moreover, the Word of God in the bush is the Word of God on the cross, since in both places He is among thorns. Hear Clement of Alexandria, Book 2 of the Pedagogue, chapter 8: "So that the Word which had first been seen through the bush might show, through the thorn taken up again, that all things are of one power, since the one Son of the Father is the beginning and end of the ages."
Note secondly that fire aptly signifies the divinity, and therefore God in the Old Testament everywhere appeared in the form of fire: and this firstly, because fire is the most subtle element; but God is the purest spirit. Secondly, because fire is the most luminous; but God is immense light, illuminating the Blessed, delighting the affections, and directing all the acts of the Saints. Thirdly, because fire is the hottest; but God by His heat vivifies, purges, and animates all things, and indeed when He wills, He grows angry, punishes, burns, and devastates by the zeal of His wrath. Fourthly, because fire is the lightest; but God dwells in the highest places. Fifthly, because fire is unmixed and the most simple; such also is God. See St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, chapter 15, and St. Thomas on Isaiah, chapter 10. Hence the Persians worshipped fire as if it were God, and the Chaldeans adored Ur, that is, fire: the Romans also venerated the sacred fire as Vesta. I shall say more about this symbol of fire in Leviticus 9, at the end.
You will ask thirdly, what does this fire in the bush signify tropologically?
I answer: Fire in the bush is tribulation in a holy, humble, and mortified person; for tribulation does not burn such a one, nor harm him, but illuminates and strengthens him. Note here: A bush, because it is a base and rough shrub, aptly signifies a humble and mortified man, in whom fire, that is God, dwells and manifests Himself and His secrets; just as a bush hedges a vineyard, so humility and mortification hedge the virtues; and just as no one dares to handle a bush, so the devil fears and flees from one who is truly humble and mortified, says Pererius.
Here is relevant what Philo writes in the Life of Moses, namely, that by God's power the bush was made incorruptible in the midst of fire, and indeed, as if it were watered by a stream flowing from above through the flame, it appeared even greener. For this is, says St. Chrysostom, the force of God's omnipotence, that through contraries He works contraries, namely heat through water, cold through fire. And so, when God Himself wills it, a rushing flame is like a torrent, and cooling water takes the place of a conflagration. So also Gregory of Nyssa: "When at midday a light more excellent than sunlight had shone around his eyes, he saw a bush burning, whose branches nevertheless were growing green as if by continuous watering." Thus virtue, stirred by adversities, flourishes, thrives, and shines.
Again, this bush signifies a perfect man, in whom fire, that is charity, is joined with the bush, that is humility and austerity of life. For a perfect man, like fire, not only embraces and receives hard and austere things, but also seeks them out and assails them. Seneca writes of himself, in Epistle 65: "In whatever state of mind I am, when I read Sextius, I want to challenge all misfortunes, I want to cry out: Why do you hesitate, Fortune? Engage me, I am ready: I put on the spirit of that man who seeks where he may test himself, where he may display his virtue: He prays that a foaming boar be given among the idle cattle, or a tawny lion descend from the mountain. I want to have something to overcome, something to exercise my patience upon." What would a Christian say to this? What a Religious? Let him indeed say: When I gaze upon Christ on the cross, and read: "Do you see that in His whole body" what love is engraved? One may well exclaim with Paul: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Let tribulation come, let anguish come, let hunger, nakedness, contempt come — I am certain that neither death, nor life, etc., shall be able to separate me, etc. Let him say with St. Ignatius: "Fire, cross, wild beasts, the breaking of bones and all the torments of the devil — let them come upon me, provided only that I may enjoy Christ."
Anagogically, the fire in the bush is the light of glory and beatitude and glory itself in the human soul and flesh. So says St. Ambrose on Psalm 43: "Therefore the bush was burning and was not consumed, because He was preparing to burn through the discipline of continence this earth which sprouts for us the thorns of sins. He revealed therefore in this a certain sign of future bodily splendor, by which through the resurrection our flesh would shine. For what does the harmless fire signify, if not the radiance of those who rise again?"
You ask, fourthly, what does the fire in the bush symbolically signify? I answer first: The fire in the bush is concupiscence remaining in the just person; for the just person is surrounded by this fire, as by a great temptation and tribulation (for this is what this fire signifies); yet he is not burned by it, because although the tinder of sin remains in him, sin does not reign in him.
Secondly, the fire in the bush signifies what kind of person Moses, that is, the ruler of the people, ought to be: namely, that he ought to be fire, through wisdom, by which he knows how to teach and govern the people; and through charity and compassion, by which he knows how to come to the aid of the people's needs, to tolerate vices, and to sympathize with weaknesses. Again, the ruler ought to be a bush, that is, to have joined to wisdom and charity the thorns of justice and severity for punishing and correcting those who go astray, especially the disobedient and rebellious.
Thirdly, the fire in the bush is a symbol of consummate wisdom, which consists in the knowledge of God (for He is the fire) and of ourselves (for human beings are the bush); whence St. Francis prayed: "Who are You, O Lord, and who am I? Let me know You, let me know myself;" You are the abyss of wisdom, goodness, power, virtue, of all good, and of all being; I am the abyss of ignorance, malice, weakness, vices, and nothingness: "the abyss" therefore of my misery "calls upon the abyss" of Your mercy, "at the sound of Your cataracts."
Verse 4: Moses, Moses
4. AND HE SAID. — The angel formed this voice in the air, by striking it together with a certain method and measure, so that it perfectly reproduced a true, living, and human utterance.
Moses, Moses. — God here shows that He so cares for His own that He knows them by name, calls them, and guides them: moreover by this repetition of the name, He more keenly strikes Moses' ears and mind, and rouses him to attention.
Here I am — I am ready to obey; give what You command, and command what You will.
Verse 5: Loose the Shoes from Your Feet
5. LOOSE THE SHOES FROM YOUR FEET. — You ask, why did God command this to Moses?
Diodorus says that Moses, by treading this land with bare feet, would sanctify it with his holiness; but what follows contradicts this: "For the place where you stand is holy ground;" therefore the land was not to be sanctified by Moses, but was already holy, and would rather sanctify Moses.
Secondly, others explain it thus: loosen your sandals, so that by this symbol you may yield your sheep and cattle, and transfer them along with yourself to God, so that you may pass entirely henceforth into God's right and service; for of old when someone relinquished his right and transferred it to a near kinsman or relative, he would take off his sandals, as is clear from Ruth 4:7. So says Lipomanus. But this rite and ceremony began after these times and after the law was given.
I say therefore, according to the literal sense: Moses here, when he was about to approach boldly, curiously, and with little reverence, in a natural manner, to investigate this mystery of the fire in the bush, was prevented by the angel and commanded to take off his sandals, in order to show reverence to the divine majesty, which was manifesting its presence in this place, and so that with great submission and veneration of soul he might approach to receive God's oracle from that place. So say Eusebius, Hugo of St. Victor, Rupert, and Cajetan. For the very same reason Joshua too, in chapter 5, verse 15, was commanded to take off his sandals. This rite descended from the practice of slaves; for they went barefoot, as being subject to their masters, revering and fearing them; hence to bare the feet was a sign of servitude and reverence. The opposite of this, namely the power and dominion of a master, was signified by the sandal. Hence it is said in Psalm 59:10: "Over Edom I will cast my shoe; the foreigners are subject to me."
Hence also John the Baptist, to declare Christ's excellence and majesty, presents Him as wearing sandals, but himself as a servant who, going barefoot, scarcely dares to loosen the strap of His sandals. See here how great a reverence we owe to temples and places dedicated to God, and see how God approves, indeed requires, external ceremonies. Hence also the Aaronic priests performed their duties barefoot in the tabernacle, as I shall say at chapter 30, verse 19. That the pagan Greek priests of idols did the same, Procopius testifies here. Similarly, out of reverence, the priests of Dagon did not tread on the threshold of Dagon's temple, as is said in 1 Kings, chapter 5, verse 5.
Moreover, it was a maxim of Pythagoras: "Sacrifice with bare feet," which both others and the Lacedaemonians adopted. Josephus also writes, in Book 2 of the Jewish War, chapter 15, that Berenice, sister of King Agrippa, when she had gone to Jerusalem on account of a vow to perform a sacred rite, did the same, and stood barefoot before the tribunal of the governor Florus. Hence also that saying of the divine Leo, in his sermon On Fasting: "Let them (the Jews) have their barefoot processions, and with sorrowful faces display their idle fasts." Even now the Moors and Saracens do not enter the temples where they are about to perform sacred rites except with shoes removed. Therefore I think Pythagoras admonished by this maxim that during sacrifice, having laid aside worldly cares and been purified from the defilements of sins, they should devote themselves to divine worship. For we also say that to wash the feet mystically means to purge the mind, and on this matter our theologians expound the Lord's commandment about the washing of feet; and likewise that the dust should be shaken from the feet.
Euthymius also interprets feet as signifying thoughts in Psalm 72. By feet (he says) he means thoughts, as being what govern and sustain our soul's religion, after the manner of feet.
Symbolically, sandals are made from the skins of dead animals: therefore by the removal of sandals God signified to Moses that, having laid aside the fear of death, he should boldly undertake the task of liberating the Hebrew people, which God then wished to enjoin upon him; and that he should learn to lay aside his body and life as easily as a sandal, for the love and reverence of God, and for the hope of eternal life: for the body must be used for the service of God alone, and not for one's own will or pleasure. So says St. Ambrose, Book 7 on Luke, chapter 10.
Some add that Moses was commanded to unshoe himself, so that he might be like the Hebrews, who as slaves went barefoot in Egypt, treading clay and straw — as if to say: Make yourself like in appearance to your people, of whom I am appointing you leader; bear their reproach, indeed the reproach of Christ, Hebrews 11:26.
Tropologically, the removal of sandals signified, first, that the future leader and teacher of God's people must utterly cast off all earthly affections, thoughts, inclinations, and cares that cling to mortal life: for God wills nothing mortal to be in them, says St. Ambrose. For this reason angels are depicted barefoot and unshod: "For this signifies that they are free, unencumbered, and expeditious, pure from every stain of outward defilement, and striving with all their might toward the likeness of divine simplicity," says St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, chapter 15. Wherefore Gregory of Nyssa reports that Moses, after he took off his sandals here, never put them on again. "After he once freed his feet from the cadaverous covering of skins at the divine command, during the time he walked on sacred ground, it is reported that he never again bound his feet with sandals."
Secondly, he who approaches the divine mysteries and the contemplation of God must lay aside his sandals, that is, his passions and affections, together with his human and earthly reasonings; hence also Christ before the Eucharist washed His disciples' feet, to signify by this act that those about to receive communion must purify the affections of their soul, and cast off worldly desires and cares. Finally, Gregory of Nyssa says: "Moses, approaching God, loosened his sandals at the bush, that he might learn that none of those things which are comprehended by sense or by mind, apart from the supreme essence which is the cause of all things and on which all things depend, truly subsists."
Verse 6: I Am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob
6. I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB — as if to say: I am the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob formerly worshipped, and still now worship; to whom therefore, as they desire the salvation of their posterity and pray ceaselessly for it in Limbo, I shall now fulfill the promise I once gave concerning your liberation.
From this passage Christ, in Matthew 22:33, proves against the Sadducees the immortality of the soul, and consequently the resurrection of the dead; for these are connected both in the view of the Sadducees, whom Christ is opposing there, and naturally in reality. For the Sadducees, like most others, denied the resurrection on this ground, that they denied the immortality of the soul, as is clear from Josephus, Book 2 of the Jewish War, chapter 7, and Acts 23:8. Hence Christ says to them: "He is not the God of the dead," whom the dead might worship or in whom the dead might glory; "but of the living;" therefore these three patriarchs still live with God, who preserves their souls alive, and will shortly clothe them with a risen body.
You ask, why does God here, and often hereafter, call Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rather than of Abel, Noah, and others? I answer first, because these three were the immediate parents and founders of the Hebrew people, of whom Moses was to be the leader, and to whom the entire Old Testament refers.
Secondly, because Abraham was the father of believers and of the faithful people, with whom God made a covenant, in which Isaac and Jacob succeeded Abraham.
Thirdly, because to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the land of Canaan was promised, into which God wished to lead the Hebrews through Moses.
Fourthly, because God had been intimate with and wonderfully beneficent to these three, and had promised to do good to their posterity.
Fifthly, because in these three, virtues shone forth eminently: in Abraham faith and obedience, in Isaac purity of soul and innocence, in Jacob patience and constancy in labors and hardships; whence Moses recounts in Genesis almost solely the deeds of these three. Hence the Hebrews also, in affliction, were accustomed to invoke God and to seek pardon and grace for themselves through the merits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as is clear from Daniel 3:25. Therefore God sets before their posterity the names and virtues of these three, as things most pleasing and delightful to Himself, so that they might imitate them: for a domestic example of virtue has a wonderful power to spur the minds of others to the same. Plutarch relates of Themistocles that as a young man he was devoted to banquets and harlots; but as soon as he heard of Miltiades' victory at Marathon, abandoning these things, he began to think of entirely different matters. When people marveled at the change, he said: "The trophy of Miltiades does not let me sleep or be idle." Hence Christ says to the Jews boasting: "We are children of Abraham: If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham."
You ask secondly, why here three times, namely for each individual, God repeats the word "God": the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I answer: first, to show how great a care God has for each individual — that He is the God of each one, that is, their provider and benefactor.
Secondly, to show His intimate friendship and beneficence toward these three patriarchs, and how highly He values each one of them: namely, that He is the God of each, that is, He is wholly for each one. For just as when I say "this field is Peter's," I signify that the whole field belongs to Peter, so also here, when God says He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, He signifies that He is wholly for each one, says Origen, Homily 22 on Matthew. He is not the God of others in this way; hence in verse 18, He calls Himself the God of the Hebrews in general, but not the God of Aaron, the God of Caleb, or the God of Joshua in particular.
Thirdly, here is signified the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, that is, the triad in the monad, says Saint Basil and Severianus in the Catena. For the name "God," repeated three times, signifies the unity of essence in three persons. Again, Abraham represents God the Father, Isaac the Son, Jacob the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from Abraham through Isaac, that is, from the Father through the Son.
The promised land is described as abounding in all the best crops, fruits, and delicacies. Thus Virgil, Eclogue 3:
Let honey flow for them, and let the rough bramble bear cardamom.
And Eclogue 4:
And the hard oaks shall sweat dewy honey.
And Ovid, Metamorphoses 1:
Rivers of milk, rivers of nectar already flowed,
And golden honey dripped from the green holm-oak.
This fertility of the promised land was partly from the gift of God and His beneficence toward the Hebrews, as is clear from Deuteronomy 11:13; Leviticus 25:20-21; Leviticus 26:3; and partly it was natural to that land, as is clear from Deuteronomy 8:7, and this Pererius shows at length from Hecataeus, Josephus, and Borchard, in disputation 41.
Verse 9: The Cry of the Children of Israel Has Come to Me
9. THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAS COME TO ME. — The word "therefore" does not give a cause, nor is it causal, but rather filler and continuative of discourse. Hence the theologians teach that the oppression of orphans and the poor is a sin crying to heaven.
See here what extreme affliction and calamity does: namely, it compels one to invoke God, who when invoked is present and comes to the rescue. Plutarch reports that Themistocles said: "We would have perished, had we not perished" — that is, to perish is salvation for many. For many would have perished badly, had they not, being well destroyed by God, perished well. So the Martyrs perished well in this age, lest they perish in the age to come. Well therefore let us perish here for God, lest we perish in hell: let affliction destroy us here, lest hell destroy us.
Verse 10: Come, and I Will Send You to Pharaoh
10. BUT COME, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO PHARAOH. God here raises up Moses, who was struck with reverence and fear at the divine presence appearing in the bush, by inviting him to a more familiar and closer meeting with Himself. Indeed, the humility of one who veiled his face before God deserved to be so exalted that henceforth he would converse with God face to face and openly.
Verse 11: Who Am I?
11. AND MOSES SAID TO GOD: WHO AM I? — That is to say: I am nobody, and plainly unfit for this embassy. It is a modest and humble confession of his own weakness. Moses knew that he had long ago been chosen by God for this task, as I showed in chapter 2, verse 12. Therefore he does not here refuse God's calling, but humbly confesses to God his own weakness, or rather his unfitness to comply with and fulfill it, so that God might either choose another or grant him the strength and aptitude.
Morally, learn from this that the office of governing and shepherding others must be undertaken hesitantly and with trembling, and only when God calls — never sought after ambitiously. On this, see Saint Gregory, Part 1 of the Pastoral Rule.
Verse 12: This You Shall Have as a Sign
12. AND THIS YOU SHALL HAVE AS A SIGN THAT I HAVE SENT YOU: WHEN YOU HAVE LED MY PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, YOU SHALL SACRIFICE TO GOD UPON THIS MOUNTAIN.
Upon Sinai. Hugh of Saint Victor explains it thus, as if God were saying: Of that which I have said, namely that I will be with you in the liberation of Israel, take this as a sign — that I have destined you for this, have sent you, and am even now sending you. Secondly, Abulensis also punctuates this passage differently, and understands the sign to be the burning bush, of which verse 2 speaks.
But our text requires that this sign be referred not to what precedes, but to what follows. The meaning therefore is, as if He were saying: Receive, O Moses, a sign of your mission, My promise and assurance, that you, with the people whom you will lead out of Egypt under My guidance, will sacrifice to Me on this mountain of Sinai in thanksgiving for so happy an outcome and liberation from Egypt; and on this mountain I will then appear to you again. For the phrase "on the mountain" can be referred both to God existing on the mountain and about to show Himself there, and to the sacrificial offering. God therefore here, by a new and more explicit promise, confirms Moses' mission and seals it as with a more certain seal, and strengthens and encourages Moses. For it is more to promise than merely to send; and again, it is more to promise and send than merely to send. This sign, therefore, as regards the promise was present, but as regards its execution it depended on a future event, which God predicts and promises will most certainly come to pass. A similar sign is given to Hezekiah in 4 Kings 19:29, and to David in 1 Kings 21:13.
YOU SHALL SACRIFICE — you, that is, as leader on behalf of the whole people; hence some read "you (plural) shall sacrifice." In Hebrew, the word is "you shall serve," namely with the worship of latria, whose sole external act is to offer sacrifice: and that this actually came to pass is clear from chapter 24, verse 3.
Verse 13: What Is His Name?
13. IF THEY SAY TO ME: WHAT IS HIS NAME? WHAT SHALL I SAY TO THEM? — God had already satisfied Moses, by the sign of the sacrifice given shortly before. Now Moses labors over how to satisfy the people, and asks for the name of the One who sends him, which he might set before his words, and by which God especially wishes to be called among the Israelites, so that they might believe.
Note: God does not need a proper name, both because He is one, and because He is ineffable. Hence the martyr Attalus, when asked contemptuously by the tyrant what name God had, replied: "Those who are many are distinguished by names; but He who is one does not need a name." So Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book 6, chapter 3. And Bishop Evagrius, when the question of the divinity came up, said: "For my part, I maintain that the divinity ought not to be defined, and therefore ought to be worshipped only with the prayer of silence, because He is ineffable." So Socrates. See therefore here the condescension of God, who lowers Himself to our name, and to conversation with us.
Verse 14: I Am Who I Am
14. I AM WHO I AM. — Hugh of Saint Victor thought that God here does not declare, but rather with a certain majesty keeps silence about His name, as if some grave person, when asked his name, should answer: I am who I am — as if to say: I am called as I am called. But this is improbable. For shortly after, He commands Moses to set forth this name, "He Who Is," as the proper name and title of the God who sends him, before his mission: read verse 15. In Hebrew it is, eie ascer eie, "I will be who I will be," which Rabbi Solomon and Burgensis explain thus: "I will be" — supply, with you in this tribulation, delivering you from it — "who I will be" — supply, henceforth always with you in all your affliction. But this is too narrow and weak.
I say therefore, "I will be who I will be," that is, I am who I am. Hence the Septuagint also translates it, "I am the Being"; which Saint Justin in his Exhortation to the Greeks thinks is said to distinguish Him from idols — as if to say: Idolaters worship idols, that is, gods who do not exist; but I am that Being, that is, the truly existing God, whom you, O Hebrews, worship. But this too is too narrow. Hence I say secondly, the meaning is: "I am who I am," as if to say: I, God, do not have a proper name distinguishing Me from others, but that which is most universal — namely being — is proper to Me.
First, because I am the enveloping whole of all being, and what in other things is distinguished by certain grades flows from Me as from a universal fountain. The phrase "I am who I am" therefore signifies an immense and boundless ocean of essence, says Gregory of Nyssa and Saint Bernard, book 5 of On Consideration to Eugenius: "God is what He is, that is, He is His own being and the being of all other things; He is to Himself, He is to all things, and therefore in a certain way He alone is." And after some intervening remarks, he teaches that this "being" embraces all the attributes of God and of things: "If you call Him good, if great, if wise, in this word it is summed up: He Who Is. For this is for Him to be: to be all these things. If you say more, you have added nothing; if you have not said it, you have diminished nothing." This is what Pindar says in the Pythian Odes, hymn 2: "God is He who contains the beginning, middle, and end of all things." And Plato: "God is He who embraces the totality of all things."
Secondly, "I am who I am," that is, I am immutable, constant, and stable. For that which changes, properly speaking, does not so much exist as it ceases to be what it was and begins to be what it was not. So Saint Gregory, Homily 2 on Ezekiel.
Thirdly, "I am who I am," that is, I am eternal — I am who I am in the present, lacking past and future. Hence in Hebrew it is, "I will be who I will be": for the Hebrews use the future tense for the present, where custom, continuation, or the endurance and constancy of a thing is signified. And so "I will be who I will be" is for the Hebrews the same as for the Latins "I am who I am." For, as Gregory of Nazianzus says, "'was' and 'will be' are segments of our time and flowing nature; but God always is." Hence "I am who I am" signifies the eternity of God, and is opposed to the changeableness of time, which is extended and distinguished through future, present, and past. For it is proper to eternity always to be immutably. Hence Saint Justin above says: "the Being" embraces three tenses.
Hence Plato also says: "God, who, as the old saying goes, holds the beginning, end, and middle of all things." Saint John expressed the force of this name in Apocalypse 1:8, when he says: "From Him who is, and who was, and who is to come." Thus Thales of Miletus, when asked, "What is the most ancient?" replied: "God, for He has no origin. What is the greatest? Space. What is the most beautiful? The world. What is the wisest? Time, for it discovers some things and will discover the rest. What is the most common? Hope, for where all else is lacking, hope is present. What is the most useful? Virtue. What is the most harmful? Vice of the soul. What is the strongest? Necessity, for it alone is insurmountable. What is the easiest? What is in accordance with nature." So Plutarch reports in the Banquet of the Seven Sages. The same Thales, according to Laertius in his Life, when asked what God is, replied: "That which has neither beginning nor end." For this reason, among the Egyptians the hieroglyphic of God was a circle, because it has neither beginning nor end, says Pierius, Hieroglyphica 39. "God," says Saint Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapter 5, "is the age of ages, and king of the ages, because He is being to existing things, and the very being of existing things, and existing before the ages." Of us it is said: "My days have declined like a shadow; we all slip away like water." But of God: "You are ever the same, and Your years shall not fail. But You, O Lord, abide forever, and Your memorial is from generation to generation" (Psalm 101). On which passage Saint Augustine, sermon 2, says: "Eternity is the substance of God, which has nothing changeable; there nothing is past, as though it no longer exists; nothing is future, as though it does not yet exist: because there is nothing there but is." God is He of whom it is said: "You illumine wonderfully from the eternal mountains." This is that Ancient of Days, whose hair, says Daniel, was white as pure wool on account of its whiteness. "Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him."
Saint Thomas, Part 1, Question 10, and the theologians there distinguish these three: eternity, aeviternity, and time, in this way. First, that time is the measure of the duration of men and corruptible things; aeviternity is the measure of the duration of angels; eternity, however, is the duration proper to God. Second, that time has a beginning and an end; aeviternity has a beginning but no end; and eternity has neither beginning nor end. Third, that time is the measure of those things that are actually corrupted and perish; aeviternity is the measure of incorruptible things, which nevertheless can absolutely cease and perish; but eternity belongs to God, who can neither cease, nor vary, nor change. Fourth, that time has succession; eternity has permanence; aeviternity has partly succession, partly permanence. For although an angel is by nature always stable and self-consistent in its aeviternity, nevertheless it continuously depends on God and is sustained by God's continually maintained influx, which God can withdraw at any moment. And if He were to withdraw it, the angel, like any other creature, would immediately vanish and lapse back into the nothingness from which it came. God therefore is the possessor and Lord of eternity, of all times and all aeviternities; and He makes both angels and holy men sharers in this blessed eternity of His. He is therefore to be worshipped, loved, and feared by us.
Thus Saint Fructuosus the Martyr, compelled by the Emperor Gallienus to venerate idols or else be punished with death, replied: "I will not sacrifice to the gods of Gallienus, but I worship and venerate the eternal God, the Creator of Caesar himself." Alluding to this, Prudentius sings:
It was commanded by the mouth of Caesar Gallienus
That what the prince worships, we all should worship.
I worship the chosen Prince,
The Maker of days, and the Lord of Gallienus.
Fourthly, Saint Jerome on Ephesians chapter 3: "I am who I am," that is, I alone am, because I alone have being from Myself; I alone am He who was not produced or begotten by anyone. All other things, of themselves and by their nature, are not, but have their being from My will — as much, in whatever manner, and for as long as I will.
Fifthly, "I am who I am," because whatever is in Me is not an accident but is My being, that is, identical with My essence. For My goodness, wisdom, and power are the same as My essence.
Hence Saint Bernard, book 5 to Eugenius: "God loves as charity, knows as truth, sits as equity, rules as majesty, governs as origin, protects as salvation, works as power, reveals as light, is present as piety. All these things the angels also do, and we do as well — but in a far inferior way, not indeed by the good that we are, but by what we participate in. God, however, does so by the very fact that He is, for He says: I am who I am."
Sixthly, "I am who I am," that is, I am the purest and simplest act. For if I were composite, I would be posterior to the parts composing Me and would have My being from them; but in fact I have My being from Myself alone.
Seventhly, "I am who I am," that is, I have being that is most universal, unlimited, and infinite. For since I have being from Myself, being itself could not be limited in Me. Hence I am subsistent being itself, incomprehensible, unnameable, and infinite.
Eighthly, "I am who I am," that is, I am the cause of all the being that created things participate in. For that which of itself and through itself is such, is the cause of those things that are such by participation. From that uncreated and immense being of God, therefore, it follows that He can do all things. This is what Boethius sings, Consolation of Philosophy, book 3, metrum 6:
O You who govern the world with perpetual reason,
Sower of earth and heaven, who bid time proceed from eternity,
Remaining Yourself unmoved, You grant all things motion;
Whom no external causes drove to fashion
The work of flowing matter, but the inborn
Form of the highest good, free from envy.
And Horace, Odes, book 1:
He who governs the affairs of men and gods,
Who tempers the sea and the lands and the world
With its changing seasons.
Ninthly, "I am who I am," that is, I am the one who has being from Myself. Rightly therefore Job said in chapter 23: "He alone is." For if there were another having a similar independent and infinite being, that one would be another God, having another nature, another independent and immense being, and consequently our one true God would not have the nature or being of that other God, and therefore would not have all being, and consequently would not be God. Hence Saint Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapter 5, teaches that God is called being, or existence, rather than anything else. First, because being first arrives at any thing and is the last to depart from it. Second, because being is most intimate to any thing. Third, it is most independent. Fourth, it is most necessary. Fifth, it is most universal. Sixth, it is most simple. Seventh, it is in a certain way infinite. Eighth, all other things are a participation in being and existence, but being is a participation in nothing. Ninth, it is most perfect, because it eminently and virtually contains all other perfections.
From all of which you may rightly conclude that the proper name of God is: "I am who I am." For it signifies the very essence of God, namely an immense ocean of being, from which — according to our manner of conceiving (for in itself, that is in God's very essence, all things are one most simple reality) — all the attributes of God flow and proceed in their order, just as from the essence of an angel, a man, or a horse, all its qualities and properties emanate in their order. Therefore, because God is being itself, or the fullness of being, it necessarily follows that He is one, most perfect, most simple, infinite, independent, most universal, immutable, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, holy, supremely good, most provident, the cause of all things — not only of those that exist and those that are future, but also of those that are possible. For a thing is possible precisely because God can make it and communicate His being to it, or because God's being can be participated in by it.
For the root of a creature's possibility is in God, not in the creature itself. For this root is the imitation, communication, and participation of the divine essence — namely, that the divine essence can communicate itself to a creature in such a way, and be participated in by that creature in such a way, inasmuch as it eminently contains that creature within itself. For if God's essence cannot be participated in a given way, the thing is plainly impossible. For what God cannot make, or to which He cannot communicate Himself, is utterly impossible. Thus man is possible because God's essence can be participated in by man, and God has a practical idea of man in His essence, according to which He can form him and communicate His being to him. But a chimera is impossible because it cannot participate in God's essence, nor does God have an idea of it according to which He might form it and communicate His being to it — because, namely, God's essence does not contain a chimera within itself, neither formally nor eminently. Therefore some theologians hold that "I am who I am" is the principle of all theology — indeed, its sum and compendium.
Note: Just as God's name is being, so conversely the name of creatures is non-being. So if a man, a stone, or an angel were asked: Who are you? What is your name? — it could and should answer: My name is non-being; I am called "I am not." And this, first, because every created thing, before it was created, had eternal non-being. Second, if it is corruptible, it will have eternal non-being again; and if it is incorruptible, as an angel is, it can always have non-being, because its being is in the power of God who freely preserves it and who can annihilate it at any moment. Third, because while it exists, it is variable and changeable, and therefore has non-being mixed in; for in every change, a certain element of non-being is included. Fourth, because any created thing, says Plato in the Theaetetus, has more non-being than being — for example, a man has only the being of a man, but has the non-being of heaven, earth, stone, angel, and all other things. And so man has only one being, and innumerable non-beings.
How wise is the one who knows himself and his own non-being! Thus Saint John the Baptist, when asked: Are you the Christ? Are you the Prophet? answered: I am not.
And he who is today is not the same tomorrow; indeed no one remains the same. For no one is the same, but is changed at every moment with respect to phantasms. For how, if we were the same, would we now rejoice in different things than before? In a different way we love and hate, we are moved by different passions, not having the same form, nor the same opinions about things. Finally, Plato in the Timaeus teaches that God alone properly exists; but all other things that arise and change, more truly do not exist than exist.
"He who is, sent Me to you." — In Hebrew again it is eie, that is, "I will be," or "I am," "sent me to you." Our translator and the Septuagint, changing the first person into the third, more clearly translate it as "He who is." To this name God immediately adds another, which Moses should bring to the Hebrews as a recognized token, when He adds:
Verse 15: The Lord God of Your Fathers
15. THE LORD GOD OF YOUR FATHERS. — For "Lord" in Hebrew is the tetragrammaton name Jehovah; for "God" in Hebrew is Elohim; the former name belongs to His nature, the latter to His grace, care, and providence, as if to say: I am God, who so am Being itself (which is Jehovah), that I am unwilling to be absent from men, but wish to be present to them, to preside over them, and to benefit them (which is Elohim). So St. Augustine in his treatise on this name of God: "I am who I am." From this Eugubinus, Cajetan, Genebrard, Bellarmine, and others probably conclude that the tetragrammaton name is the same as: "I am who I am." First, because God, who had previously commanded to be told to the children of Israel through Moses: "He who is, sent me;" now commands to be told to them: "Jehovah sent me." But it seems certain that He commanded Himself to be called by one and the same name; therefore the nomenclature which God had previously expressed by the word, saying: "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: He who is, sent me;" here He expresses by the name, saying: "Jehovah sent me." Second, because in this chapter Moses had studiously always called God "Elohim," until God Himself assigns to Himself the name: "I am who I am;" but henceforth he uses the tetragrammaton Jehovah, as though now assigned to God, and the same as "I am who I am." The same will be more evident in chapter 6, verse 3.
THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER, AND THIS IS MY MEMORIAL — by which, namely, the children of the patriarchs according to the flesh will remember Me, invoke, and praise Me, and after them the Christians, who are the true Israelites and children of Abraham according to faith and spirit, to whom through Christ the truth of the covenant made with Abraham has been displayed; so that through Christ the memory of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob seems not to have been destroyed, but rather renewed and illuminated.
FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION. — In Hebrew, "forever and ever," that is, through all ages, in every age.
Verse 16: Visiting I Have Visited You
16. VISITING I HAVE VISITED YOU — I have looked upon and seen you. So our translator renders it with the Septuagint, better than the Chaldean, who translates it as "I have remembered you"; for of present evils there is not so much a memory as a seeing; here God visits for good, at other times for evil, as in Psalm 88: "I will visit (that is, I will chastise) their iniquities with a rod."
Men boast of themselves and want to be what they are not, and they say: "I am rich, I am noble, I am wise." But those who are humble and wise, who know themselves and God, say: "God is good, is rich, is wise, is holy — I am not." And through this they merit to become partakers of divine wisdom, goodness, holiness, and of every good and of being itself. Wherefore Christ the Lord, appearing to Blessed Catherine of Siena, said to her: "Do you know, daughter, who I am and who you are? You will be blessed if you know this. I am He who am; you are she who is not." And again: "Daughter, think of Me, and I will think of you, and will always take care of you." She did this, humbling and annihilating herself and dwelling in her own nothingness; and so she was elevated to the immense ocean of the divine being and all His perfections, and she was wholly inflamed with love for Him and with continual praise of Him.
Beautifully and at length does Blessed Henry Suso treat this same "I am not" in sermon 2. "God," says St. Basil, "made the world: as good, He made it useful; as wise, most beautiful; as powerful, most great. If we have learned these things, we will know ourselves, we will know God, we will adore the Creator, we will serve the Lord, we will glorify the Father, we will love our Nurturer, we will reverence our Benefactor, and we will never cease to worship the Author of our present and future life."
This notion of God and theology the Gentiles, as it seems, drew from and learned from the Hebrews. Eugubinus reports that in the temples of the Egyptians this emblem of God was inscribed: "I am that which was, which is, and which will be; my veil no one has ever uncovered." So also Plutarch, in his book On Isis, reports that in Egypt the statue which at Sais belongs to Minerva, whom he considers to be the same as Isis, has an inscription of this kind: "I am everything that was, that is, and that will be; and my flaming veil no mortal has ever opened." See Goropius in Hermathena, book 5, folio 106, where he argues from Plutarch that by Isis is understood the divine Wisdom, and that the name of Isis means the same as "is, is." Thales also, when asked what God was, responded: "That which always is, having neither beginning nor end." Parmenides also seems to have had this in view when he said "all things are one immobile being." Hence also on the doors of the temple of Delphic Apollo was inscribed, first, "Know thyself," by which God, as it were greeting those entering the temple, admonished them to know themselves. Second, "thou art," by which word those entering the temple, as if greeting God in return, confessed that He alone truly exists. On this matter see from Plutarch Eusebius, book 11 of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter 7, where among other things he teaches that God alone exists; for since all other things are in flux, they are continually changed and are more corrupted than they are: "For the youth is corrupted into the man, the man into the old man, the boy into the youth, the infant into the boy; and he who was yesterday into him who is today."
Verse 17: And I Said
17. AND I SAID — I resolved and decreed within Myself.
Verse 18: They Shall Hear Your Voice
Verse 18. AND THEY SHALL HEAR YOUR VOICE — announcing such joyful and desired news of their liberation, mindful that the time of liberation foretold to Abraham is now being fulfilled, Genesis 15:16; for there it is said: "But in the fourth generation they shall return here," and now from that time it is already the fourth generation.
"He has called us." — In Hebrew it is, "He has met us," that is, He has spontaneously presented Himself and appeared to us, calling us, namely to sacrifice. God wished the Hebrews to put forward this pretext of sacrifice before Pharaoh in order to conceal their flight, lest Pharaoh, once the departure of the people was made known and openly requested, would immediately refuse. Therefore, so that Moses might lead the people out, and obtain permission for this from Pharaoh, he is commanded to tell him that God wishes to be worshipped by the Hebrews outside Egypt in the desert; which was true, for God had said in verse 12: "You shall sacrifice to God upon this mountain (Sinai)."
WE SHALL GO. — In Hebrew, "and now let us go, please," that is, may it be permitted for us to go.
A THREE DAYS' JOURNEY — a moderate request; for if he were to ask for a longer journey and time, the king could justly be excused for refusing the departure, as one who would rightly suspect and fear the flight of the Israelites. Nor is there a lie here, but a silence about the full truth intervenes: for they were going to travel a three days' journey, and this they said; but afterwards they were going to travel further into Canaan, and this they kept silent.
Mystically, the three days' journey is the way of faith, hope, and charity. Again, it is the way of contrition, confession, and satisfaction, by which we prepare ourselves and tend toward the sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Anagogically, the three days' journey into heaven is the way of Christ, whose first day is the day of His passion and death; the second day is His descent into hell; the third is the day of His resurrection. So St. Augustine, sermon 90 On the Seasons.
Verse 19: I Know That He Will Not Let You Go
19. BUT I KNOW THAT HE WILL NOT LET YOU GO. — God forewarns Moses and the Hebrews, lest having suffered a refusal from Pharaoh they lose heart and abandon their undertaking.
EXCEPT BY A MIGHTY HAND — through the ten plagues, and especially through the slaughter of the firstborn, which I will bring upon them. The Chaldean translates it as "except by a strong fear, which I will strike into them by these plagues."
Verse 22: You Shall Despoil Egypt
22. FROM HER NEIGHBOR AND FROM HER HOST. — From this it is clear that the Egyptians were intermingled with the Hebrews in the land of Goshen.
YOU SHALL DESPOIL EGYPT. — The Chaldean has "and you shall empty out Egypt"; for the root ric in Hebrew and Chaldaic signifies to be empty.
Note: The Hebrews, departing from Egypt, despoiled it not by theft, but by the just title of a gift from God (who is Lord of all). God gave them these spoils: first, to punish the luxury and injustice of the Egyptians. Second, to repay to the Hebrews, who had served the Egyptians without wages, these spoils in place of payment. Third, to give them material which they would afterwards offer for the construction of the tabernacle. Hence in Wisdom 10:17, it is said of the Hebrews: "He rendered to the just the wages of their labors." Whence also Tertullian, book 4 Against Marcion, chapter 24: "The Hebrews were prompted, not to fraud, but to the compensation of wages which they could not otherwise exact from their masters." For although this was the tyranny of one king commanding and oppressing the Hebrews, nevertheless the Hebrews felt the injury of the many who obeyed him and of the people who flattered him; and indeed, even if the king alone had used force, still his subjects would justly have been attacked in a just war.
Tropologically, Egypt must be despoiled, that is, those things which are elegant in pagan Philosophers and Orators must be claimed for our use, as from unjust possessors. So St. Augustine, book 2 of On Christian Doctrine, chapter 40; Rupert, Gregory of Nyssa, and Prosper, book 1 On Promises and Predictions, chapter 37. "Do we not see how laden with gold, silver, and clothing Cyprian came out of Egypt, that most sweet teacher and most blessed Martyr? How much Lactantius? How much Victorinus, Optatus, Hilary?" says St. Augustine.