Moses the Knower

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”

Moses, the Egyptian-raised knower goes beyond the wilderness. Encountering a flaming bush that is not consumed, he turns toward it. The knower seeks to bring what is unknown under his dominion. This anomaly is not to be run from, but understood.

When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

The knower is known. The Egyptian-raised knower is called by name. Beyond the wilderness, encountering the anomaly of the bush that burns but is not consumed, Moses is called by name and is afraid to look at God. What else can raise fear in the knower’s heart except an encounter with that which Is and is not brought under the dominion of the knower; this is a kind of truth one knows of but does not know. Moses has entered into a relationship with the living God.

Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.”

Lord, all men desire to know. We are made in your image; In awe and thanks we turn to you and look in upon your revelation with faith and we seek to understand.

What can we know? Is God bound by our mode of reasoning? Is our knowledge of Him through our participation in Him? Is the unlimited limited by us in our understanding? How can we understand a part of He who is indivisible?

God alone perfectly knows God, but does He not condescend to make Himself known in a way that is understandable to us? Maybe we shall say nothing about Him, then, knowing His greatness. Who thinks that they can say the unspeakable name YHWH? Does not any positive statement limit He who is without limits? For a positive statement is made to the exclusion of the negative. This is a limitation. If I call God good, have I not limited Him? Shall I immediately recognize my overbearing statement, and admit that God is also not good. Being unlimited, is He not both good and not good; all and not all?

It is a false humility to deny the very abilities and relationship God has given to us. Should we deny our own intellect and understanding, we deny ourselves being made in His image. But is trying to understand Him not like trying to put the entire ocean in meager holes dug on the shore?

Yet we don’t know nothing. Even a little hole on the shore can hold some water.

What do we notice when the knower Moses enters a relationship with God? Moses submits to God, not trying to bind Him in his knowledge. A submissive relationship to the infinite heart of truth is a position of receptivity, dependence, humility, and gratitude. What follows this faith is a desire to understand, and we understand through the human condition.

Knowledge is possible by God’s condescension into a mode graspable by people. So far that we are made in his image, our mind is raised in friendly communion, praise, and refinement of the One who was, is, and will be.